A New Program to Help Local Card Shops

Wed, Aug 12, 2026

Mike and Jesse are joined by Shep in the studio for the first guest on the new set. Football season is almost upon us, and Mike and Shep look at what will be a disappointing rookie class for 2026 and where collectors will go. Plus, the new CAP program from Topps for Card Shops and why they need to focus on maintaining a healthy ecosystem for the LCSs. Wrapping up with Good Charlotte and Josh Luber at our SCN studio at The National.

Video Transcript

I think there's going to be more and more blatant theft because somebody has a $10,000 card that they could just easily grab and flip to somebody else, and there'd never be any evidence.

All right, we're back.

First, give me the camera again.

Which one?

This one is me?

That one's me right there.

Yeah.

Look at that screen.

We're- Now you can see.

W- we're back.

Shep is here, first in-studio guest.

Last time there were a bunch of people hanging out in studio.

He is an actual guest in studio.

The other guys were helping, helping us to dial things in.

I think now Shep is our real guinea pig here.

His lighting's gonna be terrible, so when you see him- Yeah, Jeff Gordon, stop driving in circles- and get the frigging lights put in, by the way.

But- I don't know what's, what he's dragging his feet on.

What's he doing?

I never know what he's doing.

I'm not thrilled with that guy.

All right.

He's probably great, I just want the lighting.

From your perspective, let's hear what, what are your thoughts, Shep?

Wait, how dark are you over there?

No, I wanna know his thoughts- Oh on the shop.

This feels great.

The studio.

I told you guys when I walked in, I was like, "This is, this is, this is Pat McAfee, like."

Thank you.

I like it.

Which is one of the biggest compliments in, since showbiz.

That is.

That's pretty nice.

Then he, then he plopped himself down in that new chair and said, "Now, I'm awfully sweaty from the shop."

And that's when I- So I'm okay with the lighting being a little bit low today.

Yeah.

I was doing some renovation at the shop, and so- We didn't get our makeup girl on you, so that's good.

Yeah.

You got a little sheen, but no- That's right no one will know.

Okay.

Well, if you guys don't know, Jason Shepherd is the- Roger Shepherd- Whatever is his name.

It's always Dad.

That's Dad.

It's, Dad is Jason who, wait, Jason is Dad or Roger?

No, they're both Roger.

My first name is Roger.

Ooh.

Thank you.

But my dad is Roger.

I know, but you prefer Jason, right?

I, yeah, I go by Jason.

Thank you.

Okay.

Well, if we're giving- Christian names, his name is Roger.

Jason Roger Shepherd III, he is in the hot seat today.

But he is also our LCS owner, if you guys are not familiar with it.

We got a lot of first-time listeners recently.

We are both commenting about this this weekend.

A lot of people are finding the show for the first time, so.

They're finding how big you are?

The Yeah.

Okay, so that's- And how you should never wear beige shorts again- That's- that have a- that's an optical illusion.

I don't know what the heck is wrong with that.

Those short- Have you burned those yet?

No, I love those shorts.

I just got 'em.

Beige shorts can go in a, uh- The wedge of the- in a western the wedge of those shorts though is never- Okay- That's I'm just, I'm saying to be fair, I didn't know that there was gonna be crotch shots- Okay in that, in that interview.

Have you seen the picture- Had I known going around?

I did see the picture.

Did you s- I did.

Did you see the crotch?

You didn't com- you were very quiet.

Did you notice the crotch?

I, I, I, you, you were very quiet.

He did.

Thank you.

The crotch was pointed out to me.

It was- Yes pointed in, actually.

It was, someone like Listen, I don't, there was something wrong with that photo.

Wait, somebody, somebody pointed it out to you?

That angle was large.

It, yeah.

Oh, man.

I mean, I had somebody come in- Yeah with their phone and go- Yeah "Have you seen your boy Jesse?"

Yeah.

I was like, "What is going on here?"

Now you've seen more of your boy Jesse- Listen, I'm the one- than you ever thought I'm the one who posted the photo.

I understand what it is.

I just, I also, there's something.

There was honey blue, I blew up the kid situation going on in that photo.

I, I've seen a lot of Jesse this week.

Yeah?

He came in the shop- Yep wanted a Shep's T-shirt.

I did.

Well- Did he change in front of you?

I gifted him one.

I actually did change.

I took off my shirt right there.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

I saw a lot of Jesse this week.

Yeah.

I was shirtless.

Oh, did we get him the shirts?

No.

We got the free X shirts at the national.

Yeah, I know.

But, but we- Hey, Eisenberg, ship us some shirts oh, I, and, the SCN admins want shirts.

Uh- And- We wanna get one for all of them.

Everybody wants shirts.

Eisenberg- I have people that come in the shop ship me a bunch of shirts.

Ship shirts.

I have people come in the shop like, "Hey, can I get a Sports Cards Nonsense shirt?"

We just- Come to the web- come to the website- See, that's what we need to do and buy some.

We just need to put some, like, just have, like, a little thing or a little square of merch at your shop, and then people can come buy it in person.

Let's do it.

We'll do it in this renovation.

We'll give you a, we'll give you a 5% cut, 2%.

And if you- Why are we giving them a cut?

We'll give them 1% cut.

No, I don't, I don't want a cut, but- Yeah, geez we can do a discount if they put it on- Oh in shop- Yes like Jesse did this week.

Filming it.

He took his shirt off.

What a treat.

Tell me- You got a bunch of, just a bunch of fatties in there changing their shirts.

Okay, you cannot- That's what you want.

Not you.

You say fatties- Not you way too much, bro, and I'm gonna put an end to it.

I do not like it.

It's a mean comment.

Do not say fatties.

You can say big-boned or girthy.

That, that, that's not bone.

You can say girth.

I'm talking about the mass that's surrounding the bone.

It's more like- Are you kidding me?

There's a I got big bones as well.

Well, I'll tell you- Sure as, as- Listen, baldy, I don't wanna hear it as a big guy, I had rather you call me fatty than girthy.

You don't like girthy?

That's, I don't think I like girthy.

And I don't want you to s- I don't wanna see any of you with your shirts off, myself included.

Listen, I grew- It's not an insult, I'm just telling you I grew up as a fat guy.

If I was an adult-only fat guy, it'd be a different story.

As a fat kid, you get called fatty a lot, and it gets in your head, and you start to cry internally.

Start- And I don't want to cry start working out.

My, I think the laptop just died.

Okay, you giving me personal advice on how I look- You look great is maybe the most offensive thing I have heard.

You're- You look dynamite causing me to get angry.

Let's change the subject.

You look dynamite.

All right.

I have a couple subjects.

I've got football almost upon us, so I would like to know what we're doing with football stuff.

We've got Cap Jason wants to talk about, not lying.

That is actually- Isn't lying the truth?

Cap is a lie.

No cap.

Yeah, yeah.

So not that, so it's a, it's a tops term.

I'm ex- I'm interested in this.

I would like to respo- Oh, my God.

I'd like to respond to the critics.

We had some cri- just an- You guys had critics?

He's just an idiot.

He just, he just sits there sucking on his ice cubes.

You wanna make fat jokes, I'm gonna drink boba tea in, in the camera.

It's really good, actually.

It's a microphone.

I didn't know- It looks like you didn't know how to swallow.

Are you- Well, I- you okay?

I- Run a pipe?

I forgot there were boba in it, so.

Pipe, pipe.

I just- What is it called?

Boba.

You've never had a boba, I'm gonna guess.

And we're gonna do a product review at the end.

It's a new little segment I do wanna do when there's product that needs to be highlighted.

We'll spend a few minutes.

It's gonna be a nicely Well, Frank doesn't know this yet.

It will be a nicely put together visual.

So- to go along with that, we are also going to talk about Good Charlotte interview with Luber.

We're gonna throw to that here in a few.

Are we playing that or are we actually responding to it?

What are we doing?

No, we're just gonna throw to it.

So there was- So we're not gonna talk about it.

I mean- I haven't heard it yet I don't have anything to talk about with it.

Yeah, okay.

But- So we're just gonna, we're gonna play it for you that will be in the show for the listeners.

Sure.

There's also going to be a theft at the national conversation, 'cause I, I think that's really interesting, and then the whatnot valuation.

I have just gotten notes on that as well.

Also- 500 bucks, 500 million breaks this week, but we can talk about that with product.

Yuck.

Uh- okay, I do wanna talk football then with Shep, but Jesse, of course, as well.

So- But yeah, this is a- Don't- People are asking- just talk when do you sell football?

I think- I have two theories on this, but I'd like to know, what is your an- It doesn't have to be a blanket answer.

When you hear that though, someone says, "Hey, I got a bunch of football.

When is the right time to sell?"

What is your next line?

I think there is a window somewhere around preseason.

Okay.

So a couple weeks.

Uh- The next two to four weeks yeah, a couple weeks.

It's all- Wait, so pre-preseason though, or preseason?

Yeah.

Well, when the talking heads begin to talk about how good such and such looks.

I agree.

Okay.

So like, let's just talk it in Tennessee terms because- Sure.

Cam Ward.

Let's talk Cam Ward and Carnell Tate.

Yeah.

You know, you're already hearing this, this buzz of- A lot of Tate talk, by the way Carnell's a true number one.

Yeah.

Which, by the way, he's gonna be at the Music City Show.

Has not been announced yet, but he'll be there.

Um- We might be there, by the way might, might be there.

I got a, got a text about it from Dave.

I'm not sure yet.

But you're starting to hear it.

So you know, the time I've learned as a Titans fan, you sell the hype, not the news.

Sure.

Because the news is always terrible.

Mm-hmm.

And so you sell the hype.

Yeah, the facts stay once we see them.

Right.

Thanks.

I'm also looking, as far as a Titans fan, we play the Jets week one, so there's gonna be potentially should be on paper a window there.

But I would think it's just Football's such a gamble.

Yeah.

Because there's not a lot of games.

It's not like basketball where you can start slow and recover.

A lot of times you start slow- It's over it's over.

Inj- injuries play a huge part into football where it doesn't always play into other sports quite quick, as quickly or prevalently.

I don't know.

I, I, I would say, again, I think you sell the h- let's talk Jaxson Dart.

I think you gotta sell somewhere between preseason week two and week, real week two.

I mean, we're gonna- Okay.

So, so by the way, this is actually going where I wanted this conversation to go, 'cause me and Jesse have talked about this.

There are prospects and young guys, not prospects, rookies, second year guys, Jaxson Dart, Cam Ward, Mendoza, all these guys.

If I have their stuff, I am preparing to sell it immediately.

Like I think now is, like in the next two to three weeks, I think it's the time, 'cause on field they're gonna, they're not gonna live up to the hype no matter what.

And the odds- Almost of them living up to it is far less than you selling it and make I had rather sell Jaxson Dart on the hype- Yep than if he were to rattle off eight straight and I miss out on some money.

I agree.

I've done it too many times the other way.

Play it safe.

I've done it.

Trey Lance- Yeah killed me.

My own fault.

Will Levis killed me.

Okay.

Well, let, let's take, take it easy.

They have a lot of Will Levis stuff.

Will Levis.

That's gonna take a, it's gonna be He had a great play the other day at practice.

He did, didn't he?

Felt like an idiot and just flailed like a little girl and threw the ball to the defender.

Yeah, just did.

Yeah.

Not great.

But I just think if you look- MVP at, the times that you hold too long, I, I know me personally, I've gotten burned way more than I've gotten ahead.

So take the sure win.

Take the sure win.

So here's my point.

I think that is correct with all the young guys we're talking about.

However, my other thing, I had this conversation this morning with a guy.

My other contention is if you're holding established stars, I think you hold for the first two to six weeks.

And, and specifically, I'll give you the three guys I've been buying the last few months.

Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen.

I think if Mahomes comes out and plays and they start five and one, he looks good, all of a sudden it becomes, "Hey, oh, this is, dude, this is the best guy in the league."

Coming off an injury.

Mm-hmm.

Coming off of missing the playoffs.

Josh Allen's another guy.

I mean, me and him talk about Josh Allen all the time.

We talk about Lamar all the time.

I think their stock actually goes up 'cause we've seen them perform MVP levels.

So I do think there's like the clear difference though.

Who has already done it and is good?

If they've done it, give it a little time.

They'll do Jalen Hurts, we've seen him play good.

Jaxson Dart, eh.

Sanders.

All, all the young guys, I would say get ready to start selling in the next couple weeks.

Yeah, I would throw one more name in there.

I think Joe Burrow, and here's why.

Ugh.

If Joe can come out, and I know, but if Joe can come out and the Bengals win three of their first four- Sell him right then before he gets injured for the year well, or they have not been able to win games in the past.

Remember last year they were the highest scoring offense I think, or second- Yeah, defense was terrible and could- couldn't win games.

Yeah.

So all of a sudden if they begin to rattle off some games- Mm-hmm you might go, "Oh, the, they might parlay this into a playoff game."

Then it, then it's anybody's game at that point with Joe.

Yeah.

If he can stay healthy.

So maybe him.

I, I'll give you a name I'm buying.

Matthew Stafford.

Oh.

Really?

Well, here's why.

That's interesting.

I think they're gonna go on a massive run.

I don't, I don't know.

I think- Aaron Donald's back Aaron Donald's gonna be back.

He's coming off an MVP.

He picked up weapons.

They're, I think they're probably what, clear favorites or second in odds.

Oh, not, not even close are they the clear favorites.

So all of a sudden, what if he could win a second Super Bowl or another MVP run?

And what I'm saying is his autograph stuff, especially rookie, is so low- Compared to this new crap, yeah all of a sudden- That's fair do people begin to put him into a category of going, we've really overlooked this guy for a long time.

You could already make a case, by the way, if you And I, I'm not a Stafford fan by any means.

Statistically, he's an MVP and he has a championship now.

He is already probably top, top 15 to 14, excuse me, top 20 to 15 in that range all time.

I bet if you look statistically he's top 10 almost.

Oh, he's a bunch of MVPs.

He put up- Absolutely such big numbers in Detroit and, and nobody cared 'cause they didn't win.

Sure.

But you gotta remember, he single-handedly made Megatron a Hall of Famer.

Yeah, Megatron was pretty But I just mean- Right.

No, but, but those stats you add an MVP now and you add a championship, there's not a ton of quarterbacks I do.

If he were to win one or two of those, like if a combination, either one more championship, one more MVP or both, you start having that weird conversation.

He's like top 12 all time.

Because look at who he's going to be more accomplished than.

Oh yeah.

Way more than a lot of those guys.

Right.

In the last week, is there anything like consequential that's happened in the, in NFL?

In terms of what?

Like any news?

'Cause I'm, I'm going through, and other than like one quarterback, so I've got Joe Purdy, Derrick Henry, Josh Allen.

Who's, who's Joe Purdy?

Or Joe Burrow.

Okay.

Other than Brock Purdy.

Joe Burrow, Derrick Henry, Josh Allen, Drew Brees, which he was just inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Mm-hmm.

Matt Stafford, Patrick Mahomes, a few guys that you mentioned, a few other ones I just added in here.

They've all seen an uptick within the last week.

They, all their sales on Card Ladder are all up, and it makes me wonder if that selling period has just started.

I think it is.

Mm-hmm.

Because I think at this point we are into that time where people are like, "Oh, well, this is before they actually have to do anything that is real, that will actually affect whether people believe they're gonna succeed or not."

Yeah.

"So now let's start moving these if they don't wanna hold it."

So I think that's what maybe what we're seeing.

Did you say there's one guy that stands out though or something?

What did you s- you were starting to say something- well, I said other than Brock Purdy- Why, what's his deal?

He's down.

He's, like, the only one of those that I just mentioned, he's the only one that i- has a down sale since his last one.

Ricky Pearsall went out.

Oh, that's true.

Yeah.

He's hunting.

So one of his main receivers- Yeah done for the year.

Interesting.

Okay.

Funny though, Brees hasn't B- the Brees spike is not, like, outrageous though?

It's just kind of on par- Oh- or is it, has, has it been a spike?

I mean, it's I would say it's a little outrageous in some sense, but I mean, like, if you go to It depends on which card you're looking at.

So in the football index, Drew Brees is one of, like, the bigger movers just because he's got a 2001 Topps card- Mm-hmm the Drew Brees card.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with this one.

Very.

Gray border.

Yep.

Throwing the ball.

There you go.

Oh, yeah.

So that one had a last couple sales were at 24 and $22 on- You talking raw?

August 7th and August 8th.

For whatever reason- What PSA?

What are we talking?

This was just raw.

Okay.

So they just had another sale of that card at 65.

I'm shocked it was 22.

H- that high?

You thought it was that high?

Yeah.

I thought it was gonna be, like, 10 bucks.

Yeah yeah.

Well, and it, I mean, obviously they're the Hall of Fame- The Hall of Fame bump, yeah but I think that's probably, like, a person buying that card who's not familiar with- I agree Hall of Fame bump being significant.

Mm-hmm.

Like- Or just somebody who walked in and was like, "Oh, Drew Brees is in the news.

I just need my card," bought it and left.

Well- Did nothing else with it and it's funny too because we have- so many new people entering the hobby that for a long time the rules have been, well, if it's made the news or if we already knew he was going in, then it's probably baked in in the price.

And that's understood.

Agreed.

Now we're getting to a point where new people come in and they may create their own rules.

They may think, "Oh, well, that's the case that I'm gonna buy this card because he just got inducted."

Now, that's not the case for everybody else, but I'd be very curious to see how many new people are like, "Oh, well now it just popped up.

Should I go out and buy one too?"

'Cause- Yeah, impulse buy yeah.

Well, and it's like, oh well, one domino falls and other people who are new and they don't know, they're gonna do the same thing.

I don't know if it will happen, but it does make me think like we are in a period where there are so many new minds that have not been molded to our thinking that may decide to do things their own way.

Sure.

That could Very possible, yeah.

Well- I mean, he's, he's one though honestly I, I worry in Like, look at Peyton Manning's market.

It's solid, but it's not anywhere near- as good as he was on the field.

Joe Montana, same thing.

I mean, actually, if you go through the list of the top 10 of all time, Brady and Mahomes stand out and that's it.

The rest of Everybody's, like, mediocrely priced.

Is that a word, mediocrely?

It is now.

Brees though in, like, 10 years, what is the Big Brees?

Well- Like, that, that's a legit question.

In 10 years.

Yeah.

'Cause right now the big legacy is statistically his numbers are up second, in almost every category, second to Brady.

But in 10 years or 15 years he is not.

Like, this is a passing league now.

People will pass up those numbers.

And then he's got one ring, he's got no MVPs.

He'll get- I think he gets left behind a b- in a lot in- He will long term.

He will.

Like Steve Young.

Who When was the last time somebody talked about Steve Young?

One of the first great running, throwing, passing threats.

Unbelievable.

MVP level player with championship.

No one cares.

Yeah, or Jim Kelly who- Jim Kelly is the greatest quarterback the Buffalo's ever seen.

Josh Allen fans can suck it.

Jim Kelly with the four straight Super Bowls.

He single-handedly invented the no huddle offense.

I mean, yes.

But nobody cares.

Correct.

I mean, you know, another, point on this when to sell, when not to sell that we're seeing for the first time- Mm-hmm is we had a slew of product come out with Topps- Mm-hmm in the off-season.

That's never happened.

Yeah, that's true.

Oh.

They're way behind.

So it's gonna be curious to see if Jaxson Dart comes out, plays two or three good straight weeks- Yeah, and you got product dropping does all these n- well, but the, the does the '25 product that came out from the middle of April on suddenly price adjust and come up?

Yes.

'Cause it's way down right now too.

Oh, it's d- Came up super high.

It's still very expensive, by the way.

And then it went down.

Yep.

we've not seen Topps in season yet.

Yeah, that's fair.

So I wonder how that will affect the '25 product.

Not the '26.

The '26 product will be in true time, true form.

Sure.

But '25- After the fact does Finest move in a different up or down?

Does Chrome move?

Does Resurgence, which is a brand-new c- I love R- by the way- Resurgence is awesome I think price-wise every better than any of the, any of the other products.

But it's an unknown- What is, what is the price on it?

'Cause I saw some at Target.

I mean, hobby's 550-ish.

Yeah.

But you get two autos, a guaranteed RPA.

A ton of numbered stuff.

Numbered stuff.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

I, I like Resurgence actually.

But it's a new brand, if you will, so people You know, they're not, they're not seeing it yet.

Yep.

And so I'm wondering what the '25 product will look like in real time.

The fact that you've got 2026 Topps football coming out on the 21st.

Yeah, flagship.

Would it Like, that being flagship, i- are you viewing this as this is going to be the answer to your question of, like, when we have product coming out during the season?

Well, it's before the season though.

Well, I mean- Um- But I mean, we have pre-season going at that point.

At least we're, like, close to it.

Yes and no.

Yeah.

The, the problem with the '26 stuff coming out, in my opinion, the class is so bad.

Terrible.

Mendoza and then no one.

Yeah.

Well- Yeah 'cause here's what you've got, you got Mendoza who's probably not even gonna be the starter which long term will be better for him and them.

Correct.

Yeah.

It will be better if he gets to But for us in the hobby card- Noth- no chase yeah.

But if you look at the first round, I think there are what, two receivers?

Yeah, Tate.

We'll say three.

Yeah.

Will do well.

Couple- Mostly because of Tate there was no, no running backs, right, first round?

I don't think No, Jeremiah Love.

Oh, okay.

But it's chocked full of great non-skill position players that does not translate to- That don't sell.

Right.

Yeah.

But so I guess you'll chase- But it's opport- Joe Burrow and Tom Brady autos.

Here's the thing though.

Like, it's not gonna be- Correct.

These are the opportunities that these guys need to be chaseable because if there's not gonna be anybody on the QB side then guys are still gonna chase a rookie.

It's just gonna be- Well, that's not been- maybe a non-position- Maybe or non-skill position but that's never been the case.

In general when the quarterback class sucks we just go to the past year.

Yeah.

May- I, but I mean- Like '22, like '22 sucked for quarterbacks so '21 class just blew up in 2020.

And it used to be like we have these rules of, like, oh well people don't buy pitchers and then Paul Skenes came along and then people are buying pitchers and it's like I'm not saying that there's going to be a position player who's going to set the world on fire and then all of a sudden that position starts getting bought up, but it does make me think, like- Are we, do you not view it as, like, we could be in an era where there's so many new people who want cards, they can't get the players that they want at an affordable price or they just don't have a player or a rookie quarterback to invest in so now it's like, "Well, I want somebody to root for.

I'm gonna go after so-and-so rookie."

Defensive end, cornerback- I- something like that.

Maybe.

I think you could have that, it's just not gonna, it's not- I don't think it moves the needle it's not gonna balloon the- Yeah the price of the overall product.

I think, I think the '26 product, barring some, some surprise, is going to be a relatively moderately priced year.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

It's like 2013 all over again.

You get Geno Smith and EJ Manuel nobody cares about.

No big skill guys, unless something happens.

But yeah, I So I think what you'll see is what we've f- seen in past.

Like, "Hey, this year stinks.

Let's either, A," like you just said, "Chase the vets in the set, or B, hey, t- who's the 25 guys, the 24 guys?

Like, go back and find the ones you want."

I'm curious too if this is just gonna be a good year for guys that want to prospect because it's like they can prospect for cheap.

'Cause I mean there could be, there's gonna be quarterbacks that aren't as Mendoza, right?

That are still have cards that are coming out in the set.

So might as well grab 'em now and who knows.

Maybe somebody gets injured and they're in and they're the next Tom Brady.

The Jesse Beck up theory again.

You got Carson Beck.

I mean, it's worked.

Um- Oh yeah, Carson Beck.

Who, who- What's the deal- with Carson Beck, by the way?

'Cause I keep seeing new Like, I saw some posts about him over the weekend.

Who did the Rams take?

Was it Car- No clue.

I'll look.

The Rams took a quarterback i- i- kind of in s- in waiting for, in this, in this- After Stafford yeah.

I don't, I don't remember who it was but I feel like that- might be one that you might tuck back.

Ty Simpson?

That's it.

Maybe.

Is that the Alabama kid?

He was 13- Yeah Alabama.

13th overall pick.

So he might be- They picked somebody 13th?

Well, which I think was, like, a big shocker.

Good God, yeah, terrible.

But they felt like they were so good at every position that they, let's go ahead and, and maybe get, do the Jordan Love to- Yeah, get the guy in writing in Rodgers, yeah.

Yeah.

I just, I, I do, I agree with you.

I think the product's gonna suffer price-wise, which I actually think is awesome by the way.

I think pricing coming way, way down on a new release would be perfect, especially right in time for the season.

Which is why I revert back to what I was talking about a second ago.

Does 25 then have a chance to blow up with Jaxson Dart, Cam Ward, Shedeur, um- Tyler Shug Ty- who I think's the best out of the class down in New Orleans.

I still think Cam Ward's gonna be a stud.

I do.

But all of a sudden you could have four legitimate quarterbacks- Yeah that could make some noise where all of a sudden everybody goes, "Ooh, that '25 product that we let in the off-season slide down- Sure all of a sudden goes- Now it's a value almost.

Yeah.

I agree.

Okay.

By the way, the other QBs it looks like Carson Beck being, I guess he's third in line behind Fernando and Ty Simpson it looks like according to this chart I'm looking at.

Okay.

Carson Beck, Drew Aller, Cade Klubnik.

Penn State kid.

Co- Cade Klubnik was a Clemson kid, right?

Clemson.

Cole Peyton, Taylen Green, and Garrett Newsome.

I don't know.

Oh, that was the LSU kid.

LSU.

Yeah.

I don't know the middle two, like I Yeah.

The, the one went to Jets, the Cade went to the Jets and- Oof Cole went to Eagles.

Which- Well, at least Cade will play have fun.

For the Jets?

I mean every- Who's the Jets starting quarterback, Justin Fields?

That's what I'm saying, it doesn't matter, he'll play at some point.

Yeah.

All you Justin Fields holders out there, that is gonna be interesting if anything happens there.

I mean- He stunk last year It- I cannot imagine anything else happening with him I think there should be a club.

That guy sucks.

That organization stinks though too.

Gary Vee could be the quarterback of that team he roots for.

I think there- Bunch of losers in green i- there should be a club though for those who held Justin Fields and Kenny Pickett, like they should have a support club.

Where's Pickett now?

He just g- moved this off- I don't know season.

And throw Mac Jones.

If you're, if you, if you held- Oh, God Mac Jones there should be, like, a support group for those three draft- And Mac Jones had his moment in the sun last year with the Niners.

He had his chance.

He played well.

Yeah.

And he played well.

He led the Patriots to the playoffs his first year.

Yeah.

Any, any guesses on, what a Justin Fields PSA 10 prism, rookie goes for?

$7.

We're talking about just base?

Yeah.

PSA 10, though.

Yeah, $8.

9.50.

Woo.

So not bad.

Sell now.

Not bad.

There you go.

Oh, there's some poor sucker bought it on July 31st for 35.

That's- I hope his parents don't speak to him again, honestly.

That's rough.

They were probably- You have to discipline your children, just don't talk to 'em.

I, I am curious about the Kenny Pickets and the, the Mac Joneses out there.

Oh, gosh.

Nothing.

Nothing, yeah.

Yeah, they're terrible.

It's gonna be the same.

Well, I'm just curious if people are out there buying them, 'cause I mean, this is, this is speculation season, right?

This is where people start making moves.

Maybe.

We just have never seen Like, even before you used the word prospecting, we've just never seen that in football really.

Like, you just don't see it.

So may- maybe they will, I just, you- But it's, what I- Football's very reliant on like, "Hey- So- who's the next young guy?"

what I'm noticing right now is there's a lot of things that we are not used to seeing.

And, and I'm speaking of, like, from the non-sports side of things it's had, like a, quite a resurgence.

Mm-hmm.

And even to the point where, like, sports guys are getting into non-sport cards.

Not the smart ones.

And it's like it is one of these where I could believe almost anything happens in the hobby.

People start going after different IPs, different f- leagues that they weren't collecting before, and who knows what happens with the type of collector that you have.

Like, if they are going after these positions or they start prospecting or doing things in one team that they weren't doing in the, that league before.

If there were only MLB prospects before, maybe there's gonna be NBA and football prospects now.

I'd be curious to see I guess.

Oh, we both nodded our head.

We're both- Yeah.

Yeah.

It was really, things- Yeah.

I mean you've, you said it a few times.

I, I, I think the pushback would be, yeah, you guys are very, very new to the space.

Like the TCG, the non-sports side, aside from Pokemon I think is very new so when a few things happen it has a big effect.

It's a small pool.

Could this happen?

Sure.

But, like, you could have a bunch of guys go out and start doing that, I don't think it has it, it doesn't move the needle yet.

So you're saying there's not a bunch of other new people in this hobby, like on the sports side of things?

I think there are some.

I don't think it's- I think it's foolish to say that they're not.

I- I just think- 'cause I think that is a giant cause of people coming in.

It's not just, like, people- What is?

The new- What's the cause?

The, or I'm sorry, it's a giant, there is a giant amount of people that have come into this hobby in the sports card side of things, and it's not just because of non-sport cards or anything like that.

It is because they have seen these record sales and they've seen the news, they've seen the promotion, the marketing from Topps.

They've seen a number of different reasons why they should get in, and now they're getting in.

And they're brand new.

I agree with that.

They're, but I mean, that's what I mean.

They're all brand new and they're sports collectors, so they can decide how they wanna collect, especially if they- Sure aren't getting educated from us or somebody else out there.

Yeah, I, I mean, is that possible?

Absolutely.

I've just like, the trends are what the trends are.

I've not seen a change in that to be like, "Oh, this trend has changed.

There's gotta be a reason."

None of this has changed.

Like, 2025 product dropped 'cause the quarterback class sucked.

'26 stinks, so there's no anticipation on flagship.

Now, maybe that changes after a few weeks, but we haven't seen it.

Like you're saying, hey, we could see new people do that.

You're right, we could.

We just haven't yet.

Like, it hasn't happened.

Sure, yep.

So it's like, I don't know.

I mean, maybe.

Yeah.

But like, I would be very shocked if all of a sudden people are like, "Man, linebacker heavy NFL draft, we're buying linebackers now."

by the way, Mac Jones, Kenny Pickett, Justin Fields, all $10 and under for PSA 10.

Steal.

Actually, no.

Prospect them.

Oh, I'm sorry, Kenny Pickett just jumped.

He's at 11.

Oh.

So- Oh time to grab him.

What a treat for KP.

All right.

Should've grabbed him last week.

Uh- He stinks.

Kenny Pickett when do we wanna throw to the, the interview, Good Charlotte, the interview?

How long is it?

Where's Brandon?

How long is his interview, Brendan?

Brendan.

Brendan, how long- How do you not get this?

It's Brendan.

Brendan, how long- There are two different names is the interview?

Pop in here.

I believe it's 35 minutes.

We're gonna need you to cut about 32 minutes of that frigging interview.

35 minutes?

I could sing their whole LP in that time.

Go.

Number one.

I was listening to it today again.

Anthem.

Well, wrong al- that's their second album, but that's fine.

I'm just- Little things Waldorf or Vlad.

Oh.

Let's go.

Whoa, track number two.

Wow.

Are you kidding me?

Okay.

Brando.

Okay, here we go.

Wow.

And I got a con- I don't know the third.

I don't know if I told you guys this, but my wife is actually from the same hometown as them.

So, like, they are the unofficial band of Maryland.

Oh.

It's funny, she's never mentioned that when we talk.

They're from Maryland?

See, zing, little joke there.

Oh, boy.

Are they really from Maryland?

Ugh.

Yeah.

All right.

Brando, here we go.

Track number three.

This is a great CD.

Chef, Chef- Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous favorite- It's not even the right album, for God's sake.

Bunch of faux fans.

What's your favorite, Good Charlotte song?

All, all the small things?

Yep, that's my favorite.

Well, it's- That's a good one the little things.

Yes.

The- All the small things Blink-182, of course.

That's okay.

That's Blink-182.

Yeah.

You're, you're doing great.

But it's also a good song.

I was more into rap.

Were you really?

No, you were not.

You're a liar.

Oh, yeah.

Snoop Dogg, Dre.

Um- Still my favorite halftime show of all time Regulate For free.

Every, every day.

There's so much drama in the- LBC.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

It's kinda hard being Snoop- Snoop- D-O-double-G. Wow.

Okay.

But, somehow some way- Keep coming- keep coming up with- Clean it up yep, see?

Look at this from- Yep.

There it is I was gonna say.

Yeah, easy.

From, from rap- Me like rap- Yeah rap fan to preacher to car job owner.

I'm not gonna lie, I was not gonna guess- Whole- hip-hop on your list of music choices.

I love hip-hop.

All right.

Not the modern stuff as much, but like- Yeah give me, like, like the Dre- '90s, '80s '90s into, like, the 2000s.

Okay.

I love Jay-Z.

I love- You love- Kanye.

Uh- Lil Bow Wow?

Master P?

The, as an actor.

Okay.

Lil Bow Wow the actor.

Excellent actor.

Yes.

Master P as well.

Absolutely.

Master P- Make him say unh great ball player.

Make him say unh.

But give me- Man Lil Wayne.

Will Smith.

I'll take Ludacris.

Like all that.

What about Mystikal?

Ludacris.

Luda.

Always been Luda for me.

Shake the Brahman.

Oh, wow.

Show me what you're working with.

F-A-B-O-L-O-U-S, of course.

One of my favorites.

Mystikal.

I'm pulling up the 106 & Park top list for early 2000s.

He was a Marine, by the way.

Did you guys know that?

Luda?

No, Mystikal.

Was he really?

Yeah.

All right.

What about Xzibit?

Did you ever watch Pimp My Ride?

I did.

Oh, sure.

Xzibit.

Oh, dude.

Another, was, he was on, he had a little run at acting too for a while there.

He did.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

I, he's now got- Yeah a dying cat.

I don't know if you guys know this.

He's keeping it alive.

The cat's becoming famous.

It's a, it's a thing.

Just let it, just let it go.

Well, he doesn't want to.

Okay.

Man, your new guests are getting a treat today.

I'm telling you.

New listeners, well, now they're done, but- Oh, the new, yeah, they're- Yeah, they're not sticking around.

If they were here- If they're not sticking around for this, then we don't want them they were here when we started though.

That's good.

We don't want them.

All right, so real quick, I did want to just- Yeah, break the notepad.

Yes I wanted to talk about the- Can you hold that up to the camera?

The, the National.

They've never seen that before.

Jesse isn't lying when he says this.

He has his notepad every day.

I have my notepad.

This is, this was last episode.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, actually, this is a Hobby Nonsense episode.

Yeah.

But- Great these episodes- Yeah, turn the page on that here's the SCN episodes because, it's, we talk about what Mike talks about.

That's, that's a SCN episode.

Excellent.

And that's the Hobby Nonsense episode.

Great.

So- That ratio makes sense to me theft, theft at the National.

Okay.

This is just a, quick point because, we als- we also like that video.

First off, this is goes for us too on our channel.

We have to, if we're gonna be showing anything where there's theft or anything and there's a kid involved, we do need to be blurring out the face of the child.

That's- Even when he's the thief?

He's not the thief.

His da- his grandpa- He put it in his pocket because his grandpa or dad told him to.

That kid was, like, 12 or 13.

He's- He is old enough to know not to steal stuff.

Okay.

I think his face should be blasted everywhere.

But to your point, legally we cannot.

I think he should be expelled- So I don't know what- and bullied.

I hope someone bullies him I don't know what side Mike is on, on this, at this point.

But- I'm very clear.

I want him bullied.

He was an ac- he actively helped steal the cards.

So don't do that.

Whatever he's saying, don't listen to that.

No, you're right.

So- Let him go.

Just give him an award.

So here's what we, what I wanna talk about though.

There were several at the show that got taken advantage of, and I kind, it's, I do kind of feel bad 'cause I think it's partially their fault.

Not even partially.

I think it's, like, n- 80% their fault.

Guys made some sales at the show.

Okay.

And they took credit cards.

Oh, I did s- And the credit cards were stolen I did see this today.

But they, from my understanding is the credit card payment that they took- The guy gave him the number.

They wrote off the number for him That always makes sense and that makes me- like less concerned for that person, but it's Here's the thing, just don't do it.

I just wanted to make a call-out, 'cause these guys were out, like, some serious cards.

Oh.

Multiple thousands of dollars, and it's like that And it, it kinda makes sense too, 'cause it's like, "Oh, I don't have that much cash.

I wanna buy these cards, but I don't have that much money on me.

Can I use my credit card?

Oh, I left my wallet in the car.

Here, I've got the number, though.

Can I just read it to you?"

That's, I mean, don't listen to it.

If anybody comes up with that sob story, say, "Come on back with it."

Yep.

Yeah.

I know in the shop, if you can't- I agree if you can't tap, you don't rip.

You can't tap, you don't take.

Yeah.

Yep.

We had it happen one time- Recently yeah, and not again.

Like, it just- Yeah if you can't- And it just came back as stolen?

Yeah, it was a chargeback from whoever owned the number originally.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

I, I was always curious about that.

Which- Like, how does that work?

I, I feel like, though, that theft is up in general in this hobby.

Is it up, or is it just more talked about?

Maybe it's more talked about.

It's like shark attacks.

I ju- I just feel like that in our local area it's been up.

I saw a thing, a post from, Louisville Sports Cards that they had to chase a kid out in the parking lot who stole I mean, it just seems like- I mean- it's just more prevalent right now we are dealing with more money than some banks have on hand in some of these cards.

I don't see why we wouldn't, and I would expect it's only gonna go up.

I think that the more people understand what's going on in the hobby, the more they're gonna realize, "Oh, that's easy pickings.

I can just go over there, and it's a mom and pop running that shop.

I'm gonna go right in, and I'm gonna ask to see a card."

And they may not even try and be hiding it.

They may be blatant and put it in their pocket and run out the door, thinking, "Oh, well, I got a guy in the car waiting for me.

I'm gonna drive off."

And these are things that I think we've already seen, where people are breaking into shops.

They've This is not anything new.

But now I think there's going to be more and more blatant theft because somebody has a $10,000 card, a non-numbered $10,000 card that they could just easily grab and flip to somebody else, and there'd never be any evidence.

So be aware if you're a shop owner or if you're a collector.

'Cause here's the thing, too.

At the show, at the National, dear Lord, I was s- I made this comment to several friends who 'Cause there's a lot of people that, are not in the hobby that, you know, I'm close with, and it, we start talking about, like, "Oh, well, this card did this, and there was that card that did that sale."

And they're, "Oh, how'd they pay for it?"

"Oh, they have cash a lot of times- Oh, yeah or if not, they'll, they'll do something else, or they'll do a trade for something of value."

And the joke comes up, do you know how much money you could make if you were just a little bit more unscrupulous?

If you were more of a thief, you could just go in there and clean up.

And, and unfortunately, this is another example.

How this conversation started is because somebody did that exact thing.

But I think that's gonna keep happening.

You have to be more and more cautious with what you're bringing out.

I And this is one thing, too.

We should probably just get a sponsor for this.

We need an insurance sponsor.

We Is that a plug, or no?

I don't have a- Okay, Jeremy's literally talking to a guy today.

Is he really?

Yeah, big ins- today or tomorrow, yeah.

Oh, good.

Yeah, 'cause- I agree that- By the way, I, I do So, so that is my, always my first question.

Is it happening more, or are we just hearing about it more?

I don't know.

Like shark attacks, they had that thing- You are just waiting to bring back shark attacks the shark attacks- Yep, here it is though.

That was a big thing rec- it was, like, three or four years ago, when there was that whole thing of there was actually less that year.

It was during COVID, but everybody was in the house, and it was just like, it was more talked about.

Oh, yeah.

I know theft exists.

I don't know if it's up or down.

It's probably not down, but, as a, as a seller anywhere, let's go card show, 'cause that's where most of these things are happening, right?

Number one, watch your freaking showcases.

Like, the dude who stole that Mahomes card that was worth 10 grand, whatever it was worth- Yeah like the guy literally was standing there for, like, two minutes, then he opens it.

Somebody should not be able to open a showcase and have, and no one be I'm not saying you have to lock them, by the way.

Sure.

My showcases are never locked- ever.

But I have my, I have somebody watching them the entire time.

Sure.

Period.

Like, watch your stuff.

So you have to have a little bit of a cynical eye, like, hey, somebody might be here to steal.

Maybe they don't love this hobby.

B, use some common freaking sense.

Like, watch what cards are going in and out.

Don't just leave stuff lying around, and don't take credit cards at a show.

I'm all for other payments, by the way.

Yeah.

Don't take credit cards.

I think the credit card at a show- is, I mean, I'll do Venmo, and I'll do PayPal.

Sure.

But I mean, aren't those just credit cards attached to your account?

Like, I mean, I'm guessing- It's usually direct from the account.

I don't have a credit card for either of those.

Oh, you don't?

Mm-mm.

The sh- the shows that we take credit cards at, w- we take Square.

Yeah, where they have to tap it.

You have to tap.

Yeah, but they have to have the card to tap it, right?

Correct.

Okay.

So that's a thing.

So, like, when we do the Music City show, you know, we take quite a bit of credit card there, but we take our system fees.

Are you MC-ing that thing again?

I am.

All right, that's cool.

I heard Luke, I heard Luke Combs might be coming.

Maybe.

I don't know.

All right.

We'll see.

Okay.

I got you confused for Luke Combs on the last, last podcast.

Who'd you call him?

I had a very Luke Combs look.

Oh, you got confused for looking like him.

S- I mean, no one actually- You're a lot taller thought that, but- You're a lot taller.

You are a lot taller.

I am.

Yeah, I am a lot taller.

He's, like, 5'9".

But n- but when I have, like, the- I could see it little chest hair, the button-up with the little chest hair and a hat on, baseball hat on- And the beige shorts well, you can't tell that.

No one could tell that from the desk.

Okay.

Stand up.

The only other thing I had before I- And this is the next m- thing I, wanna talk about, r- but Whatnot.

After Whatnot I wanna go to your thing, the thing, the cap thing.

Whatnot just raised, what, $545?

F- 5, $545 million at a $20 billion valuation.

Giddyup.

Do you remember when we were selling on there when they first started- Yeah when it was, like, they asked us, they came- No fee, and they were paying us, like, six grand a month?

They paid us, yeah.

Well, I mean, I don't remember what it was, but they were paying us monthly to do it- And we had no fee and there was I mean, there were still people.

There were people on the platform- Oh, it was- but it wasn't- Yeah n- anything like this, and it was only cards at that point.

No.

It was- Oh, yes, I'm sorry, yes, correct it was only cards.

They didn't have all this other stuff.

But now this is, Whatnot is going to be the next QVC of the new age, in America at least.

Already is.

I mean, like, oh, yeah, I mean, in a lot of ways it is.

Now, it is interesting to see I feel like I, I follow another account, like Whatnot Crashouts, and I feel like I'm seeing more and more of those videos coming up.

Is it Crashout or Cashout?

I never know.

It's crash out.

Yeah, they're crashing out.

Like, they're just, like, losing it.

I thought they were cashing out.

No, they're crashing out 'cause they The whole premise is, like, these people are just, like, losing their minds because a card didn't sell for what they want it or they're just- I know what it is.

I just didn't I thought it was cash.

Yeah.

You're saying it's crash.

Yeah, I'm saying that.

Brendan, fact-check that.

It's not a fact check.

It's just that it's- Brendan, check it out so anyways, it, it- Quickly it makes me, really curious what that continues to look like because with all the money that they already had, and there's not been that much policing, I can't imagine, like, we're going to see much in the way of, like, I don't know, a more wholesome platform unless they really put money towards that.

You would think they would have to, but people are throwing 545 million at them with it as is, so who knows.

That's a lot of freaking money.

That is nuts, 545 million.

Well, I mean, 'cause, like- Yeah.

You can just At this point- Yeah they I think they're just taking anybody who wants to come on and sell.

I mean, I think there's very few that they wouldn't just allow to come on.

Now, what perks and things like that you might get, I think that'll- Yeah, your fee might be different be dependent.

Sure.

But if you wanna go on there and sell your garage sale items, if you wanna go on there and sell your makeup tutorials, you can do all these things, but- People are selling tutorials?

I mean, I, I don't know what they do.

I'm just Examples, but yes, it is.

They- Weird examples they'll sell everything.

They'll sell everything.

And that's where it's like, man, $20 billion for a, what I still deem as a card company, is kind of insane.

I wonder what their revenue from cards is, what the percentage is- Yeah off the hobby.

I would be curious if that's, like, the biggest section of it.

It has to be.

Yeah.

I- Like, Backyard is doing hundreds of millions.

They're exclusively selling there.

And all rev- Yeah, revenue-wise.

And all the other guys.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe.

Anyways.

All right.

So you, Shep, you were talking about how- Did a lot of talking off-air, by the way we did a little talking, and that's a no-no usually in this house, but- I'm gonna hang up rules in this frigging room but this was something that we hadn't heard anything about, and Shep kind of enlightened us.

Can you tell us a little bit about, like, what CAP is, what it was, and- Yeah how it- Tell us again affects you?

We'll be interested.

Yeah, so I mean, we talked, I think, back around Chrome Football, there was a term that we used on 'Cause I remember we talked about it on podcast, called retail reserve.

Mm-hmm.

And we talked about it, that Topps And, you know, I think we def- I, I know I did.

I defended them in this big giant money hungry, they're gonna destroy the hobby.

I gave an example of saying that for those that think that and believe that, here's one of the things that they are gonna institute that will, I think, help at least in that perception, and that at the time was the retail reserve, which meant that shops would get more of a specific product with the caveat that we would sell it at a suggested MSRP.

Mm-hmm.

So, that has now been moved to a new term, CAP, which is collector access program, and the first time that they kinda launched and did this was with Topps Chrome Update Football.

Massive release.

We all know that, right?

I mean, it was, it was probably one of the more promoted- No, yeah coming off the Shohei and all that.

Yep.

You got the- The Cooper flag now you got the Cooper flag, you know, with all the bounties and, and et cetera.

So, we got an email that just basically said, you know, "Here's the first opportunity to, you know, kinda do what we've asked you or suggested," and that was offer your blaster boxes at CAP pricing, the c- customer, or the collector access pricing.

Mm-hmm.

Which was what, by the way?

What was the pr- 4- $45- Okay which is where everybody, Tom Brady at the vault had them there.

It was suggested- Dicks though.

You don't have to do this.

You don't have to do it.

Okay.

Th- this is the pricing you would find at, like, a Walmart or a Target- Dicks or something like that.

Yeah.

Yep.

So, $45.

So, match that at the shop.

And how we wanted to deal with it was up to us.

So, like, for us, for an example, we did a limit, two per customer, and we cut the seals.

Gotta open them in the shop.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well, you can take the cards and but we're taking the seal off.

Okay.

Sure.

If you wanna open your pack somewhere else, that's fine.

So first of all, I wanna say kudos to Topps for instituting the program- Okay because it was awesome.

Oh, okay.

It was amazing.

We had, I think at n- at 10:30, about 30 minutes before opening, we had a little line.

We pr- I made a joke about the b- the restaurant next door that I'm not gonna make again.

It, it, it wasn't the restaurant.

It usually is the restaurant.

Are you sure you don't wanna make it?

This is why you can't tell stuff off the air.

This is- It wasn't- the freaking reason it wasn't a good joke.

It was a great joke the first time.

All right.

Go ahead.

So, you know, we open up.

Chase.

Everybody lines up at the counter.

They take their two box.

'Cause we had advertised the day before- Oh, okay that, "Hey, by the way, we're going to be doing this tomorrow.

We're gonna be offering blaster boxes in a limited capacity.

Seal comes off, no exceptions."

And- This was on Friday of this last week.

It was Thursday.

Oh, Thursday.

So, on Wednesday- Excuse me Wednesday, we put out the word.

Okay.

So, Thursday morning, we had the line, we came in.

Here's your slogan: No CAP, yes CAP.

See?

There you go.

So- Not needed.

Continue.

And the ca- Didn't make that joke offline no, the caveat- He's laughing was that- He's definitely having a good time now that we would- We're getting back.

We would do this- We're, we're getting back, guys.

Yep.

Get excited.

We would do this Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Slinging her in the chat.

We would do this- Come on as a customer- Appreciation entry-level appreciation, et cetera, et cetera.

Sure.

Okay.

And that we would get more product.

Okay, so talk about that part, by the way.

Th- you were told this, "Hey, if you do this, we'll look more favorably.

If you do this, we'll give you more product."

How does that Why is that- Well, I think- thought in your head?

I think it was, "We will, we will g- allow you more access to more product, or the product that we're going to give you access to will come with the caveat that you participate in this program."

"So, you scratch our backs, we'll scratch yours."

Kinda.

Okay.

But the problem was I sold out in a matter of hours.

Not days, hours, and by that afternoon, I had nothing left to give anybody.

So- Did you get more product?

No.

Not, not yet.

I haven't seen it.

I emailed our rep- Yeah, yeah and said, "Hey, here's what we did.

It was awesome.

All the customers appreciated it."

Yeah.

But we didn't get to serve all of our, our customers.

Yeah.

I'll, I'll throw out real numbers.

We got two cases of blasters.

Okay.

What, were they 20 bucks a piece?

40.

40, okay.

So 80.

So we got to service 40 people, basically- Right 40 of our customers.

We are a pretty high-trafficked shop in Hendersonville.

Great shop.

And so we didn't have enough- Best shop in Hendersonville, I tell you.

Thanks.

You're welcome.

Carry on.

But we didn't have enough to go around.

Sure.

So here's where my displeasure comes in, please.

Mm-hmm.

But I go to Dick's and they have a wall of them.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Pallets.

Pallets of them.

Dick's in Madison, by the way?

I hope- Yes, Rivergate.

Oh, God.

Rivergate.

It's a trash city.

A- and- Why are they getting any basketball?

Target has tons.

I- It's out of the wa- it's out of the way I, I got in at Target on Friday.

I got two boxes of Update on Friday.

Over, under seven kids he pushed out of the way?

Oh, easily.

And the answer was?

Easily over.

Oh, thank you.

Yeah.

I don't wanna say.

Continue.

You brought Charlie for that, didn't you?

No.

So here's- Kids can push other kids.

Nobody believes she's a kid.

Yeah, exactly.

She's too tall.

She's 12, she's allowed to hit you.

So here's my plea.

5'10", good heavens.

So Topps, thank you.

If you're listening Topps, thank you- They're listening for instituting the CAT program- Yeah where we are encouraged, not required, encouraged- Sure to sell at MSRP.

I as a shop owner have no problem selling at MSRP.

Yeah, you might lose out on a few bucks, but it's- Who cares?

Worth the PR.

Yeah.

Who cares?

It's a win.

My plea is you gotta give us If you want- Yeah us to do this, you've got to give us more product, and here's why.

Yeah.

And this is where I'm gonna get a little bit passionate in defending the LCS.

Oh, Tommy woke up in here.

Please.

Guys, you cannot undervalue in the growth of this, this hobby.

You cannot, in my opinion, undervalue the local card shop.

Guys, I get it.

Dick's, you can put all the money you want to in marketing them, in creating a wall, in a, a house of cards.

You can put all kinds of stuff that you want to, in redoing the aisles at Target.

You can do all of that.

But guys, if you're listening, the hobby shop is the heart and soul of this whole thing, and here's why.

Not because I own one, but let me tell you what you can't get in the aisle at Target or at Dick's.

You can't get a shop owner or Suzy salesperson that's gonna come by and go, "Oh, kid, awesome hit.

Let me get you a top loader and a penny sleeve- Yeah for that card."

Or like- Or, "By the way, here's a table that all you and your friends can sit at and open these cards," or, "By the way, here's, here's an additional this or that," or h- let me show you.

Or, "Oh, hey, here's the insert you missed, by the way."

Or- "You just, you just- Yeah scrolled past that insert.

Hey, dude, that's a good card."

"Did you have any questions on this product?"

We had, we had- Right we had it happen, in the shop- There'll be no questions on Thursday.

Somebody hit a Luka image variation- Yeah.

Had no clue and I quickly said, "Hey, that's a, that's a probably a $200 image variation right now."

Yeah.

I agree.

You didn't have congratulations.

You didn't have a c- somebody going, "Oh, sweet."

Yeah, exactly.

You don't have people educating.

You don't have people Well, let me take it a step farther.

Forget that product.

When you, when you, when you don't value the local card shop, you also don't get known by name.

You don't have an opportunity to come in and me go, "Hey, Matt, I took in some new Seahawks cards.

Do you wanna check 'em out- Okay before they go to the shelf?"

Gotcha, yeah.

The personal touch.

"Oh, by the, by the way, Fred, I took in some new 62s.

I know you're working on the 62 set."

Yeah.

"Let me show you what I got."

That's community.

"I think they're in the condition that you want."

Yeah.

You're not getting that at Dick's.

Yeah.

You're not getting that at Target.

You're not getting that anywhere but the local card shop.

I agree.

And so the local card shop has to stay, in my opinion, not because I own one.

If I sell it tomorrow, I'd still come on here and say the same thing.

We wouldn't have you on the show anymore, just to be clear.

But it has to stay- I agree at the heart of all of this because- By the way, I'm on your team real fast to that point.

I've even said that with breakers.

I think me and Jesse both run good rooms.

The experience in a break room is nothing compared to an LCS, ever.

But it's better than, it, but it's better than Dick's.

Sure, but to your point- It's better than the s- the- it starts with the shop.

I actually agree with you.

And so you've got If you want us to survive- Yeah I'll sell at your MSRP all day.

Sure.

But you gotta give me a little bit more product.

Yeah, I, I will say if they're asking you to do it- And all I'm asking you is to just take a little away from Dick's.

Yeah.

I'm not asking you to steal it from Steel City or any- Not to mention, by the way, it's the guys like this going into Target.

He just said Not you, I'm kidding.

Sh.

But it is.

Dude, how many people So let me ask you, when did you go to get that product?

Thursday?

On Friday.

On release day?

Nope, Friday.

Friday morning?

Friday, yeah, before noon.

H- Target in Hendersonville?

Target in Rivergate.

Scum city.

Again, I c- cannot emphasize that enough.

How many other people were there doing the same thing?

Anybody?

Nobody.

Really?

Here's what, here was what was really weird.

So what's the point?

There was like- There's not even any rush in there there was, like, there was also Pokemon on the shelves- Oh, my goodness and there was that.

I thought it was, it was, like, the strangest thing I've ever seen, is like- Stranger Things, you're saying well, and I think this is, like, the new thing with Target, too.

We've already seen, they introduced it at the National, I know, where it's like, "Hey, here's the card aisle," like you were just describing, where they've got all the cards set up, and they had multiple sections for, like, sport, TCG, Pokemon.

And in the sports section, they had a very fair amount, of Topps Update, and then I think w- is it Resurgence that is a retail SKU as well?

Mm-hmm.

So they had that over there, and I was just like, "This is really weird, but I can get it at..." I think it was, like, 45 bucks a, a blaster.

Sure.

I was like, "Yeah, I'll, I'll go and grab one."

I, I mean, I think I got an auto out of one of 'em, actually.

Oh, you ripped 'em?

Yeah.

Oh yeah, I ripped 'em.

Yeah, I wasn't buying I, I go in there typically just to buy.

If I'm going to any of those, I go to buy and for myself, but- You didn't, you didn't flip any, though?

No.

I was curious what the secondary was.

Well, but it- Going- I was just gonna say, like, but the, the only thing with all of it was I, I, to your point, it felt very much like the only th- information I got from anybody there was, "That's where the cards are, I think."

They didn't even know exactly where the cards were, and if I had a question, yeah, right, like, that was not happening.

So it felt very I wish I was In fact, I was going to your shop- Oh but I went there because they were open.

I got there earlier than, I guess it was before 11:00.

They would've opened the door for you.

Come on.

Yeah.

Always.

So go to a shop.

That's Apparently, I didn't need to.

Of course you- It, it got sold out.

Garbage.

But we sold Resurgence.

Had flasters at MSRP.

We sold- So it, we have sold at MSRP as much as possible- Yeah on blasters especially, and even Megas.

Like, we sold, we sold, Resurgence Megas at, at- Carrying MSRP.

Yep.

So all those things can happen if you supply us well.

We don't mind honoring that and doing that because we're We don't wanna be the greedy ones either.

But we A- and I get, 'cause I've heard it as well, you know, it's been said, but, you know, Target might be the first place a person sees a card.

I agree.

I'm not saying, by the way, I'm not saying take stuff- I'm not saying take all of it correct.

But- No but if he is going in there a day after release on that product, and there's nobody else in the aisle, granted, they're worried about getting shot at Rivergate, but they don't need that much product then.

Very clear.

I, I totally agree, actually.

Well, and the, to go along with this, too, it's just like, if I'm going to buy product, I, I get why they're doing it.

Because like you said, it may be the first, and it's, this is not the first sign of this either, because we've seen more and more big cards getting hit out of blasters.

Mm-hmm.

It's not just on the non-sports side.

I've been hearing about it on the sports side as well.

I think they are doing this strategically.

They want more people to buy at entry-level pricing, and then it's like, okay, well, now I wanna try and get into some hobby, maybe breaks or maybe just buy a hobby box from the LCS.

But this is definitely a marketing campaign that they are pushing, which is go buy a blaster to get started.

Yeah.

And that's why this is so important.

But you can market still, go to your local LCS and buy a blaster.

They do the same thing in LCS.

Or, or here, here you go.

Buy your second blaster.

Okay, you found, you found hobby.

You found product for the very first time, which I find this hard to believe that there's that many people that's buying their very first pack of cards at Target this week.

I, I agree, by the way.

So- If you tune out scalpers, by the way, to that point, I do, I would love to see how many people buy there just organically.

Like, Jesse's buying everything break- Or, or for their, for their very, like, walking- Yeah they're, they're walking out with their gallon of milk and go, "You know what?

I've never thought about it, but I think I would like to start collecting cards."

Yeah, right.

And there they are.

My point being, though, we w- we will, we will sell this stuff at a price that makes sense if we are supplied.

Yeah.

You know, I know that one of the things that was said on one of the interviews by Mayhem was that card shop by Brady- Mm-hmm was selling at MSRP.

Well, Tom can do that if he has an endless supply of Topps Chrome update blasters.

Yeah.

So all I'm saying is, like, like, help us help the collector.

Well- And we can only do that if o- especially on the hot product.

You've gotta have product, period.

We gotta have product- Yeah.

I agree in order to be able to do it.

And so, you know, and I told you guys off-air, I would love, unannounced, don't tell me when you're coming, Mayhem, Ruben, fire up the jet, come down and spend an hour or two.

You can come on the pod here- We can stay upstairs while you're in Henderson.

We got the Airbnb up here.

You got the Airbnb.

Sleep with Papa Jill.

Stay, st- stay with- Papa Jill will take you to dinner.

His own Well, he won't pay for it.

But, like, a- and the reason I'm telling you, don't announce it.

Yeah.

Just come in.

I agree, 'cause then you get a- 'Cause I don't wanna stack the deck you get an organic- I want you to see- Yeah, yeah what the local A- and- I actually- guys, our own- Here's the thing.

It, it's not, it has nothing to do with your shop.

I think they believe in your shop.

I think they believe in a lot of shops.

I think it's a business thing.

I think this is, we are seeing more and more corporatization of this hobby, and I- Which, which brings some really good stuff to us.

It does.

There's good things about it.

It, it is.

But there's also not as good things about it.

Well- And when it comes to, hey, am I going to promote the LCS or the Targets and the big serial chains of LCSs, when the decision is made because of the bottom line, that's where, I think that's where we're facing a, a real junction in this hobby, where it's like we're either going to go more and more corporatized and less personalized, a- or we can make the choice of, hey, we may not make quite as much money, but we will grow this hobby organically, which is the healthiest way to do it.

I think we've got to make this more of a, a sticking point in their minds.

A- and I know Topps, like, this, we're not, like, we don't work for you, and you guys don't work for us.

It's not like this.

But it's like, hey, we know that people listen.

If you guys are questioning, do I do this because I can make more money, or do I do this because it will help the hobby?

I'm not saying that there's one or the other, but I think there's at least something where you could lean more towards helping the hobby and make money at the same time.

Agreed.

You can do both.

Correct.

And, and I'm just I, I believe with all my heart that if there is a decline in the local card shop, it will rip the soul out of this hobby.

Yeah.

Agreed, yep.

I, I just, it w- and, and I guess I put myself I don't know.

I think I've graduated beyond mom and pop at this point.

I mean, I think we are a legitimate shop in a metro area that is growing.

You know, our revenue is very good with what we're given.

I'm very thankful for what we're given.

I'm just saying that don't bury the thought of the local s- LCS so far back that y- you, you, you forget about those of us who are on the ground that really are making the whole thing kind of spin and go and grow and all those things.

Because, you know, you also gotta consider this.

A lot of your guys that are setting up at shows are also LCS guys.

Mm-hmm.

You know?

Yeah.

And, and, and I think all these things can work together, and so I'm very encouraged.

Like I said, I was very encouraged with the out, out, what am I trying to say?

The, the outcome- Mm-hmm of Thursday's product.

Mm-hmm.

I, I thought it was awesome having people line up at the door.

Sure.

It's a good start.

And it, and I, honestly, I felt good being able to offer it at for, "Hey, guys, we're gonna be at the same price everybody else is."

Yep.

I felt bad by the end of the day when I was like, "Hey, sorry."

Yeah, I got nothing left.

"I don't, I don't have anything left."

Can I ask you, when they came in to buy the blasters, did you find that many of them were buying anything else?

No.

I mean, I think that morning specifically.

Now, as the day, you know, maybe hour four, when we still had a few left and people, "Oh, yeah, I forgot that came out.

Yeah, I'll take two."

Yeah.

But also came in for this.

But the first 45 minutes to an hour, we were packed.

Yeah with anybody from 13 to 33-year-olds who are like, "Hey" Thank you, ransomware.

Yeah.

No school last week.

Right?

Perfect.

Yeah.

Well, and- Perfect and I think the, the, the problem that you're going to face is the competition of, A, we can give you more product.

But what if you don't sell it?

Because the After you've met demand, the next step is meeting the scalper demand.

And you guys are tearing off the plastic, so they can't flip those.

But the scalper can go to Target, and they can pick it up and go and flip.

I, that 'Cause I mean, I'm looking at eBay sales right now, and those boxes are selling right now for 70-plus bu- bucks a box, and you were selling them at 45.

I mean, it's not to say, like, you're gonna get rich doing it.

But you, if people are doing it for Pokemon packs for five bucks a pack, they'd do it for that for 25 bucks a box, you know?

So- Yeah, but that plays more into what he's saying.

Then give him the stuff, 'cause he's not gonna sell to scalpers.

Well, and that's, I, I think that's a good thing.

But again, if we're thinking bottom line, they don't care who you're selling to.

It's, they want it sold.

Right.

But he's selling it.

You went to Target where- Exactly it's on the shelves.

Yes.

Yeah, but that, this is again, what I'm just pointing out, is, like, which way are we looking at it from a, from the corporate point of view?

Is it looked at as a- Mm-hmm "Hey, we just wanna sell it," or, "Hey, we wanna sell it to the best possible people"?

Well, I mean, I'll, I'll give you- Oh, he's playing with his phone, folks.

Hang on.

I am.

I mean, this was I, I, I mean, this program, quote, "Rip the seal program so our allocation supports the collectors over the resellers."

Well, I'm with you.

Let's do it.

Yeah.

I don't, I have no problem with that.

I gotta have, I gotta have the On, on certain big-release stuff- Gotta have more I've gotta have a little bit more.

Not, and again, I don't need a pallet of it.

I can't sell, you know, I can't sell 10,000 of those boxes.

Yeah, but two more cases woulda been nice.

But I, yeah, a couple more cases or say- Sure.

Yeah five or six cases would've gotten me through the weekend.

That would've been nice.

Now, saying all that, if that stuff was still sitting on my shelf at $45 two weeks from now- Sure then we begin to look at market.

Okay, the hype's down.

The Cooper Flag got pulled, whatever it is, you know.

Yeah.

Then we begin to say, "Okay, where does the market..." That's the way, like, I think with Pokemon, it's the same way.

You can kinda go, "Okay, there's a time where market takes over the MSRP," or just let hobby be the You know, we sold it at, at, at m, or, at We sold hobby at market.

Oh, okay.

So if you- What, like at the 800 bucks a box, thousand a box?

Yeah, something like that.

Yeah.

And so It, so at this point, this, but this is the first time this has happened, right?

Like, the, the first time this marketing campaign is taking place where they wanted you to rip the seals off and do it all at MSRP.

So you just haven't gotten a response yet from them.

So you, we don't really know how this is going to go.

No.

But ultimately- So far so good ultimately, what would've been really nice is, hey, they've had another case ready to go for you, but- Correct.

Timing.

Yeah.

But at this point it's like, hey, well, maybe they still do have cases coming your way, and we're gonna find out.

It's kind of a moot point, though, like a week later.

It's like, "Yeah, I don't have it yet."

Yeah.

Like, you need it on Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Or I, I would make another suggestion.

It, as this thing goes and they're tweaking it, you know, this is gonna be a program they tweak, and they If you f- if you find that shops are over-ordering, and then let's say by Saturday they're selling them at 89.99.

They gave it two days.

You know, there, it can be does that make sense, too?

It can be, I mean, that can be adjustments.

Like finding that sweet zone between not enough- Sure and you, you know, not allowing somebody to over-order, too.

Sure.

You know?

Sure.

I don't know.

So- It's a work in progress, though.

Sure.

Again, everything you're talking about is, like, a case-by-case basis.

Right.

And so, I, that's why I say kudos on the program.

I think it's awesome for- Correct us.

I think it's awesome for the customer.

All I'm saying in all of it is that just don't forget the LCS.

I agree.

Yeah.

We, we, we, we mat- not, not because it's me, but 'cause, but we matter.

Yeah.

And- In, in the grand scheme of the ecosystem, we matter.

I, yeah.

We both obviously agree with that.

Here's the other thing, too, and, and this was actually to a point which I don't have to talk about now.

We're getting long-winded here with, we get that interview at the end, all this.

This was some of the point, though, with us talking to Mike and Mike at the, at the National.

I told Jesse it was cool to hear all the outreach.

A, a lot of people heard that interview that maybe don't normally listen to us, including, like, family, friends, people we don't, not even k- didn't even know we had a podcast.

I think the hobby, at least the voices in the hobby, were very critical.

Like, "Hey, we didn't get a ton out of it.

It wasn't..." I am, that, the point of that was not like, "Hey, here's a breaking news interview with Mike and Mike."

I don't ever expect they're gonna come on here and just pull back the whole frigging curtain.

But I do think, a- at least to me, and I think Jesse probably agrees, we live for those two or three little pushback moments where we get to challenge on a couple little things.

Mm-hmm.

And if nothing else, we get to get them on the record about some stuff.

Like, hey A- and honestly, my biggest takeaway is always, are you at least And this principle applies to what you're talking about.

Are you, is the conversation at least being had?

Like, our big thing was pushing back on allocation and on breakers, and how does Shep I think we na- I named you by name.

How does one Shep compete with Tom and his, his, you know, 30 minions to get open in shops and all this?

To at least hear that, "Hey, that is a concern."

Even with this, is this one program gonna fix everything?

No.

But is it the first of many steps?

Mm-hmm.

Fantastic.

Like, the unsealing of these boxes when they were doing the EQL, great.

As long as that's just the first step and you're at least aware.

That's why I have been hopeful.

Like, Jesse talks about the corporatization.

You did.

I totally agree.

I think, though, that is the one reason I'm hopeful, is like, dude, Panini did this for years, and when things sucked, it was like no response, period, no matter what.

At least now I'm like, man, is it perfect?

By no means.

Can you have a conversation with somebody?

Usually.

And are they at least trying different little things or at least band-aids?

Well, and if you have not actually listened to the full interview, there is one point at the very end where I did specifically say, "Well, I've got a softball question for your last one."

'Cause we, we had hit them with a couple ones, and to their credit, well, Reuben specifically was just like, "No, I don't want that.

Give me the hard one."

And it was like, "Okay, well, if that's what you want, then we'll push back on pricing for allocation wave two and wave one and things like that."

But it was like, okay, that is something that if they really didn't wa- if they wanted the softball, they could've easily had it.

And- Yeah, well, they just don't show up.

Yeah.

That's why they don't have to do the interview.

Exactly.

But they want to talk about it, and that is to your, Mike's point.

It's like, well, Panini, when we had questions, we got nothing.

And- Even when they were paying us, by the way well, yeah.

Topps isn't even paying us right now.

Yeah.

Could, could- And, and I will say The amount of access you get to, I guess you would say the C-class, C office at Dale- Oh, all the time it's phenomenal.

Yep.

Yeah.

Like, the- these guys are not hiding behind curtains- Correct pulling levers like the Wizard of Oz.

These guys are out there.

You know, and so, you know, I, I'm, I'm So I- I'm, I'm way more optimistic.

I think, Jesse, you and I talked about this.

Like, I'm way more optimistic about the future than maybe some other owners, and I just, I, I just, I just want balance.

Yeah.

Like, make sure that we, you know, at The ecosystem remains a very balanced ecosystem.

Yeah.

Breakers, big box retail, athletes and, and influencers getting into the market like Tom.

You know, I'm not scared of Tom Brady's shop.

I, I'd be fine if Tom wanted to open up one across the street from me.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, the hospital will have something to say about that, but that's fine.

Yeah.

But, like, all these things to me work t- can work together, like, very seamlessly if, if, if, if we all care about each of, each of the You know, I've always been one at, at the LCS, like, people's like, "I bet you hate Breakers."

I'm like, "No, I love Breakers."

Breakers create, again, these ebbs and flows and rhythms to things.

Like- Sure like, it helps me on singles.

People break, they get a pile of singles they don't want, and guess what?

Bring them in.

Yep.

They sell them to me.

I sell them to a repacker who do, you know, or another, you know, whatever it is.

Yeah.

Ecosystem keeps running though.

Yeah.

I agree.

Yeah.

It's like anything else.

I hate the bad ones.

I hate bad Breakers, I hate bad shop owners.

Mm-hmm.

I hate crappy sales reps.

But I also don't miss the days, and like people think I joke about this, and, and I don't know h- how familiar you are.

Like, there was times you could talk to your sales reps at some of the distribution places be like, "Yeah, I meant to send you, like, a little, a little gift for something."

A couple thousand bucks in an envelope back in the day would get you extra cases.

Mm-hmm.

Like, that was a real thing.

So, like, that's why, like, I, I, I Do I think things are perfect?

Of course not.

However, I do at least like that we get a response.

So anyways, you have anything else you wanna do mailbag and then the interview?

Uh- What w- I will just point out w- this is gonna be a close to two-hour episode.

We're cutting that interview big time.

Let me hit a couple of these really fast then.

Sure.

Ken asked about, for both of you guys, Ken asked about CGC.

They were firmly in number two with submissions, I think even in sports.

And he had a couple different quest- It's a long thing.

But basically, how do we get the value of non-PSA-graded cards up?

Influencers have to- Man to, to promote them.

I mean- 100%.

I think it has to come from outside stimulus from other people who are, have reputations and/or they have some kind of cred in this, either in the space or just in public opinion.

But I don't see it coming from just the hobbyists in general.

And here's why, in my opinion.

Those that can speak those things into it can walk their stuff to PSA and have it graded by tomorrow.

Yeah.

Well, I wish that was true.

PSA's a big sponsor.

My, I got a got my things like 78 days out.

I will say, nobody ever took care of us personally like that except for SGC.

That's fair.

No matter the wait- But, uh- dude, I would text Pete, like I need They were un- But that was also a different story.

PSA was a- SGC had the, they had the bandwidth at that point.

Oh, I'm not- There wasn't people- Yeah, I'm just meaning like- But yeah I, I will say, like as, we are influencers, we have a huge sponsorship.

Dude, I gotta submit the same way.

But I mean- I didn't even have to, I didn't even have to fill out- That makes me feel better by the way- And I'll- I didn't even have to fill out paperwork with SGC.

I put them in a freaking shoebox- That's right and just sent them to Brian, and that guy was unreal.

Yeah.

He just did the whole thing.

Now I had to actually fill it out.

I gotta put crap and tops it.

Um- Semi-rigids and- Sem- Yeah yeah, it was, it was a hassle actually.

I have like 89 cards or, well, not that many, 56 cards maybe, 55 cards.

It was annoying.

Yeah, I don't know.

I, I, I thought the same thing when Beckett was king for years.

I don't have a good answer for you, Ken.

Here's the problem, is I, I don't see how it's going to happen, period.

Like, because I don't think people want multiple kings of grading.

Which I hate, by the way.

We should want all three to be great.

Yeah.

That would be the best thing- I, but- could ever happen but do we want all three to be great?

I do.

'Cause it's so much easier to just say, "Hey, it's PSA or I, it's nothing."

I don't have to worry about like, "Well, what was the grading standard on that one?

Oh, that's a 9.5.

Oh, no, but it's a 10 here, and uh..." If people just have one that they can just rely on, it makes the whole system, ecosystem much simpler.

I'm not saying that's how I want it, but I'm saying in general I think there's not that many people out there, other than the voices with social media accounts.

But I think the actu- actual collector is not out there saying, "I wish I could have this be graded by all of these companies, and it all be the same value."

I'm sure we all- You don't think the collectors think that?

Well, I, I'm saying for the simplicity sake of it.

Mm-hmm.

Because if they had to send it to all the other pl- places, if they had to send it to CGC, and it would be the same value, then there's no way that CGC is either going to keep the same pricing or PSA is gonna s- keep the same pricing.

So everybody's gonna end up being the same price.

If everybody's cards are valued the same way, they're not gonna be, one's gonna be devastatingly cheaper, because why would they do that?

Which is a good thing, though.

PSA would have to come down, the other ones could go up a little.

But that's what I mean, is like, well, at that point then it's like, well, we're all sa- paying the same amount, we're all gonna get cards graded wherever we want, and now I have to keep track of which one is it that I- is this one the better card?

How does that, how does that pristine work versus my 10 over here?

It- Do you think people don't I'm not even trying to be combative here.

I'm just No, I'm saying- But you don't think people who, like, grade n- Like, they, we're not talking about, like, the craziest thing.

A 10 is pristine with one company.

It's just gem mint with everybody else.

I- Done I think that if they wanted it, they would do it, 'cause that mean, that, that does- I think they do want it, but the resale That's not the case.

The resale value is vastly different.

If I didn't wanna If, if you got all your cards graded from CGC and you said, "Hey, this is what I'm selling them at, and I'm not selling them any lower than that" Oh, but the market wouldn't accept.

That's- Exactly.

They won't accept it.

But why won't they accept it?

Because that's not the mass thinking right now.

It just doesn't work.

Exactly.

And why isn't the mass thinking?

That's what I'm pointing out.

'Cause that's not what we're told to do or believe.

Well, and, and it- We're told to believe that PSA is, is king.

We're, that, that Sure.

I think customers are b- I think collectors are begging for multiple companies to be equal value.

Oh, even with PSA, by the way?

Yeah.

I think even they want it, 'cause they own three of them.

That would be the best If, if tomorrow I could just look and say, "Hey, what's the wait time X, Y, Z with all three big companies?

Great.

I'm going with the ones the shortest," 'cause the values are the same.

But- But the values aren't even close they're not even close.

And so that, I- Since PSA shut down, you know how many people I've had come in the shop?

And you gotta remember, we weren't a major submitter, but we were doing 500 cards a week.

PSA?

PSA.

350 to 500 a week- Yep in bulk submissions.

You know how many people I've had come in and ask, "Hey, are you gonna be doing Beckett?"

None.

Four.

Yeah.

You know how many- How many for SGC?

Zero.

Yeah.

How many for CGC?

None.

Yeah.

SGC has picked up slightly.

I think we do 30 or 40 a week.

Yeah.

Where we were doing none.

I think people are just waiting on PSA.

Or selling raw.

And here's why.

Because they say everybody that, without exception, says, "Can't grade there.

I'll take a bath."

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Which is- But that's what I- That's, that's the current climate.

It's just true.

Yeah, it s- sucks I, and, and to clarify my point is I do think that everybody would love that their card that's graded no matter what would be valued the same at every place.

However, I think the mentality, like, the deeper mentality of why isn't it like that, why haven't we gotten to that point, yes, I think there's probably, like, a lot of marketing material that says, you know, "Grade with PSA," and that's it, and that's where PSA becomes king.

But I also think that you are going to get to a point where if everybody is equal, then nothing stands out.

Nothing becomes the, the king.

And everybody wants their card to be better than everybody else's card.

So it's like, okay, well, you have a 10, and I have a 10.

They both look exactly the same to the untrained eye, but I know mine's more valuable because it's a PSA and yours isn't.

And that's what I think ultimately they're p- that's what people really want their cards to be, is more valuable than someone else's.

Yeah, so if enough- Yeah people got together and said, "Beckett is more valuable," it would be more valuable.

But they, why would they do that when they already have one?

They've already They, it would take time and effort.

Oh, I- They have to have the cards re, regraded.

Nobody wants that.

They were, they've already established- But, so, so- this is the king that's my question.

Why did it happen eight years ago when PSA surpassed Beckett?

We were at a different time.

That, I, I mean, I honestly couldn't tell you what made the, the change exactly, but I can tell you it's happened.

Correct.

And now that we're there, we- I, I- I don't see it changing unless something devastating happens.

I think it could have happened if PSA on this last go-around had said, "We're gonna be shut down at least a year."

But four months, which I, we all know I don't think they're gonna be back open in four months.

I mean, do you?

I think first of the year probably.

Okay.

But- So what, six, eight months?

Even if, even if they had said, "Hey, June 2nd- Mm-hmm.

To January 1st till January 2nd."

Yeah.

I think you would've had people potentially looking for different options at a different pace than they are currently.

But when they heard four months, which- Why not?

Just wait I'll just wait.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

I got a pile going.

And not to mention, by the fact, the other thing is we, we're talking about sports cards.

75% of their volume is TCG and non-sports stuff.

Yeah.

So it's not like sports guys are all just saying, "We're just only using them."

Like, that's c- the, the huge influx has come from non-sports guys for whatever reason, so they obviously have the same th- and maybe there's crossover.

I don't know.

I got a couple of more questions real quick.

I know we gotta go.

This one was actually cool.

We had two or three guys ask about this.

What is the inevitable lockout in the MLB do for pricing?

Like, you're talking this is, like, legit could happen next season.

It's gonna happen in my opinion.

S- so my thing is this.

I, well, go ahead.

I'll, I'll, I'll respond after you.

I think it's gonna drop.

I think you're gonna have, uh- Will they make product?

I would think.

I'm not sure how that works with, like, the PA deals and all that.

When, when was the last walkout?

94-ish.

Or lockout.

Toronto.

Yeah.

Joe Carter.

Blue Je- Yeah Blue Jays, '93, yeah.

Wasn't there something- that happened?

I feel like somebody sent me something of last time there was a, a lockout- You may be right this happened in the card hobby, and I don't remember what it was.

I don't, I don't know.

But, I mean, I don't know if your Shoheis will be affected too much.

Yeah, I mean, if this could hurt the Pete Rose, the- Oh, '21 to '22 for 99 days.

99, okay.

Oh.

But it was December to March.

Oh.

It pushed opening day a couple weeks.

That was it.

They, ultimately played.

The big one was '94, though.

'94, '95 player strike, yep.

So how long are they- Which I think that's what we're more in line to.

A big one.

Yeah.

A big one.

A player strike.

Yeah, I mean, here's my thing.

I don't, I'm not gonna stop collecting Griffeys or anything like that.

Mm-mm.

I think your, your young guys who are performance-dependent, Pete Rose, Armstrong, guys who are playing well now, obviously rookies and prospects get crushed 'cause they're shut down.

But yeah, I think guys who are going back- I think it helps your Griffeys.

I, I agree.

I'm going back to just buy what I like.

Yeah.

'Cause when it comes back, people still love Griffey.

Yeah.

Go ahead and start buying Frank Thomas up.

Yeah.

Guys like that, that's what Yeah.

I- Well, I mean, I think, too, like, we were in COVID, and there weren't people playing, right?

And it just- They played the shortened season, yeah, 60 games.

But, I mean, once they realize, "Oh, there's not games," the people were still buying cards like crazy.

I, if anything, I could see the hobby increasing during that time.

Yeah, but there's a little perspective, like, difference there, too.

It's one thing when the government said, you know, "Hey, we're shutting down.

You can't play."

It's another thing when- The players are like, "No, we're not doing it" yeah, 'cause we're selfish billionaires and blah.

I, I just think there could be a, some souring- Okay that happens with strikes.

That's interesting, yeah.

Yeah.

When you saw that in '94, like, there was a major souring over- Oh, that's why it took till Sosa/McGuire in '98 to bring the game back.

Right.

People checked out.

Interesting.

Which is why those guys have to be in the Hall of Fame.

Yeah, I agree.

I'll tell you what's gonna go up, is my Savannah Banana cards.

Those guys are gonna kill it.

Yeah.

I mean, 'cause that, people are still gonna go to those games in the summer, and a- they are already selling out.

It's, that league in general is going to blow up.

Yeah.

In the hobby, you're saying?

In the hobby.

Well, once they start actually getting, like, professional cards, 'cause they've made, they've made their own cards.

I have a few packs of them.

But it, they're now adding more teams.

They're adding more highlights.

They're adding more airtime.

It will blow up if the MLB goes on strike.

Yeah.

I mean, yeah.

I could see that.

We have people now that ask, like, "Hey, does, you know, that league- Well, and it's more entertaining does that- It's more fun to watch.

And does that league have cards?

Yeah.

Well, I got some if you're interested.

You know, I'm just saying.

Come hit me up.

Oh, there you go.

All right.

Real quick- That's enough tomorrow on Fanatics Live, I have got Well, Ray's gonna be doing a WWE Decades.

It was a, a UK exclusive WWE product.

I got a case at the National, so he's gonna be doing a break at 8:00 PM Central Time on Fanatics on Tuesday.

And then I am all day doing Star Wars Galaxy on Wednesday on Fanatics Live.

So Hobby Nonsense, come check out the channel.

Boom.

Roasted.

Now we throw to Good Charlotte Good Charlotte with Josh Luber All right.

Welcome to the National Day Three in Chicago.

I am Josh Luber from Ghost Rite, sitting in for Mike and Jesse because these guys just don't work enough.

These guys are lazy as Anyway, I'm very happy to be here with Benji and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte, two OG collectors like me.

And I gotta tell you, there's a lot of stuff, we've been actually hanging out all day talking about Ghost Rite, and I really should commandeer this, Mike, Jesse, and just we should all talk about Ghost Rite, but we'll, we'll save that for later.

So, thank you very much for being here, guys.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

And we actually have become friends today.

We, we have mutual friends.

We got a bunch of mutual friends, but we've never gotten actually the chance to catch up and, and meet and talk and, and, I, I gotta say, dude, everything we were talking over there about Ghost Rite, and everything we were talking about collecting, it's one of the greatest things about collecting, is when you meet real collectors and you, you, you instantly hit it off.

And you, you, I mean- You know, you know, there's a, there's something about collecting that, everybody who collects, has in common.

D- doesn't matter what you collect.

It's like, you know when someone fucking collects something, and when they're just, like, day trading or flipping things, which is I, I, I always say, like, the pa- the part of this where people need to sell is good.

For sure.

We need it.

Absolutely.

And, and the, the aspirational side of this is that it can change someone's life.

No question about it.

Look, you know, we're all about the same age, and I feel like our generation of collectors comes from the time where commerce was, was the, just in secondary.

It wasn't worth anything.

Yeah.

Yeah, it wasn't, right?

It was just, it was just stuff that we liked, and so now we get to be on the other side of that- Yeah like, watching the hobby expand.

Yeah.

you know, earlier, before you came over, and he and I were talking at the booth, I actually told him a story.

I don't know if you told him the story about the- No, I sure No what's the na- i- what, what's the name of the show?

We were- I can't reme- remember, remember.

I can't remember the name of it, but Bobby was there.

Bobby was it was a collec- it was like a Shark Tank idea.

Like, Bobby, remember?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nate, or Nate.

Wuh, and, gosh, you remember the collecting show?

Yeah, yeah.

I don't know the name of the show, but it was like a show- And they asked a favor.

They asked us to come stand in.

It was, it was a, it was a, it was a production company casting for a TV show- Really good idea about collecting.

Yeah.

In theory.

And, and what you don't know is that we were actually in the elevator together.

I was going down, you were coming out, and I was walking in because I had just quit.

He was like, "I'm outta here."

I, I, I was like, "Jeff, Bobby," I was like, "You guys are good."

I was like, "This is not for me."

I was like, "This is kinda wack."

I was like And it was just, it was so Hollywood, and it was so whatever, and I was like, "You know what?"

I was like, "I got other stuff to do."

Yeah, yeah.

"You guys are good."

I like that.

And, and I pass you guys coming out of the thing.

And Bobby had told me that, that you guys might be there.

Yeah.

And then I, you know, and I saw, and I was just sort of like, I don't know.

It was- You were like, "Good luck, guys."

Yeah.

Getting back in the- You were like, "Oh, I should've told this guy.

Oh, I'm, hey, we're-" But, you know, but the, the f- the fact of the matter is, is like, for, for people our generation and that age is like, if you are a true collector, you're gonna show up and at least see what's going on.

Yes.

And be part of that.

Always, because part of collecting is searching and going places and seeing things.

But that, like, sometimes you go, and it's, it's, it wasn't worth the time.

Totally.

But you know the hunt of finding true collectors and the things you wanna collect is going and spending the time to meet people and talk to people.

And y- you, the way you get to, to me, real true things that are to be desired, right?

Col- col- things to collect.

The people that have 'em know what they have.

They don't wanna give 'em out.

And they don't wanna give 'em out, and they need to entrust it to the next person.

Yeah, yeah.

And so part of collecting is, is being trustworthy.

Uh-huh.

And, and- So you do feel protective of the space.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah.

I, look, I, I feel like the, all the things I want are things that people don't wanna sell, and it is about creating that bond and, and getting them to trust you to, to g- and man, like, it, it's so different to give it to somebody that you know is just either gonna flip it, and it's like it, fine.

If I wanted it to sell it and that money, you can find that anywhere, right?

Yeah.

And like, somebody that cares about that, yeah.

I, I would wa- so, so we recently, we, we collect, one of the things we collect, we collect a lot of stuff.

Our wives are just about, they've had it.

They're very patient.

I've- They're very patient they've had it up to here with all the collecting.

But we've always collected, so they know that about us too.

Yeah.

And it is, I think, too, part of our process as entrepreneurs, is rabbit holes.

Right.

And going down the rabbit hole and, and, and seeing, like S- y- you always leave the collecting when you come back to work, 'cause what we all do is we super serve fans.

Yeah.

Right?

All of our businesses are about- That's right.

It's not about, it's not about a transaction.

Mm-hmm.

It's about, like, s- making sure someone feels like, they're, they're getting more than just a transaction.

I agree.

And it's a real thing.

It's not a So the transaction is just a, is a, is a formality.

It's a, it's the end of it.

It's the end.

Yeah.

It's a t- you know, you buy a ticket to a show.

You have to buy the ticket to get to the show, whatever.

But then you, when you go to the show, you, you've gotta feel like it was worth your time.

Yeah.

And so when you're, when you're figuring out, like, how to better serve, better serve, better serve, when you go down the rabbit holes and you find interesting things, you bring some of that back to what you're giving people.

So I think w- we, but recently, we were, we collect One Piece, vintage One Piece.

So- So, so I don't know much about One Piece at all, so give me, like, what, what's the, like, some, like, really, what do I need to know from the basics of, like, collecting One Piece?

I'll, I'm gonna let you finish, but, and go on with One Piece, but it's kinda what led us to vintage One Piece.

It's exactly what we're talking about, is, like, vintage One Piece is so scarce.

It's so rare.

You have to hunt every card.

You do.

You can't just- What, what was, like, the What year were, like, the first early, early- And I, I don't know anything, so this is, like, good intro for me so, so modern One Piece, 2022 to now.

Okay.

We got into modern One Piece in 2022.

And love modern One Piece.

Lo- I love, loved One Piece, and, got into it for fun with, with my son, who's a big collector.

MDing collectibles.

He's, he's, he's, like, he's doing his thing.

But One Piece was really for fun.

We just like One Piece.

And then we started collecting the modern game.

The modern cards are amazing.

We still collect those.

But then we started kind of- We still love every drop.

We still, you know.

But as Pokemon fans, right, modern Pokemon, what leads you back to vintage Pokemon.

Yeah.

And we love vintage Pokemon and we love modern Pokemon, right?

So One Piece, we started all looking for the chronological, historical, kind of, like, was there anything before the modern game?

Yeah, yeah.

And then we started going back and we went all the way back to '99, was the first Japanese game, the Hyper Battle set.

And then, from '99 went on to, there's other sets like Visual Adventure, there's Miracle Battle, there's Berry Match.

And then the first English set in 2005's called The Quest Begins, and it was the first game, the English game.

And then The Quest Begins and Passage to the Grand Line were the two sets.

It got canceled.

It didn't do well.

Those cards are very hard to find, very scarce.

But there's tournament winner cards.

They had a tournament.

There's participate cards.

There's a lot of stuff to hunt.

Yeah, yeah.

And, promo cards.

The very first English promo card.

So in the Japanese set, there was a j- tournament in 2002.

There was a bunch of Jump Festa promos.

So there's a lot of fun stuff to hunt.

And we started going down the rabbit hole and, and, and then we were traveling, meeting with very scarce collectors around the world.

And, we found the rarest One Piece card in vintage is a, is the tournament winner from 2002.

It's, it's, is- There's a- there's a set of wanted cards, the first wanted cards.

And how many exist?

Three copies.

There's three copies of the rarest card?

Three copies in the whole set.

The wi- no.

So the winner card from that tournament is a Gold D. Roger card.

Okay.

A wanted card, and there's three copies of it.

There might be a fourth, but it's not emerged yet.

So we think it's only three.

So we, we, we found one in Taiwan.

We had to go.

He flew.

You went to Taiwan just to get it?

I went to Taiwa- Taiwan and, and I became great friends with the guy that I got it from.

Great.

When was this that you went?

He speaks no English.

Wh- when?

What, how long ago?

This was, two months ago.

Oh, two month Oh, so this is, like- It took us that long to find the card.

Yeah.

And then to, to, it took s- probably months of talking, 'cause he didn't He was- About, it took about three months he wanted to sell it, but he wanted to sell it to a collector.

Yeah, yeah.

And so, we also couldn't figure out how to get the money to sort of escrow.

So we had to- You just took cash?

So I had to go do it in person.

Yeah.

And it was, and it was incredible, though.

It was incredible.

But we shot the whole thing, and we're, we're, we're now kind of addicted to buying up- Wait, sorry.

Is this coming out?

If it Was it- Yeah, we'll figure it out already out?

No.

We're, we're, we're figuring out editing and how long or short we wanna make it.

Yeah.

And, but it's really cool.

It's a cool story.

And now we're kind of going, like, what's the next It was such a fun journey.

We're like, "What's the next, like, unknown card do we wanna find and go-" So, so you guys just have one of the three?

Do you know who has the other two?

We, we do know who has the other two.

So.

They, they won't sell.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

but we, we, we, we So vintage One Piece has been an amazing journey for us, over the last year or so.

And then modern One Piece we love, but also we collect sports cards, and we collect antiques, and collect lots of stuff.

So out- outside of, you know, I think probably a lot of the people listening, people in, in the audience, you know, here at The National collect sports cards, TCG, et cetera, what's, like, some fun stuff you guys collect that's not, like, in that wheelhouse?

Not in cards?

Yeah, like, not in cards.

Well, he has an amazing, guitar collection, but the one that I would say, if we were gonna talk about any of his guitars, it would be, he's got a Gibson J-45, and it's the first serial number.

1942.

First serial number, first known serial number Gibson J-45, which is a really important, which is a really important model for You think about acoustic guitars, like, you know, what did Bob Dylan play?

Willie Nelson.

Like, so the very first serial number J-45, I was really lucky to be able to get that.

Um- How long have you had it?

I got that a year ago.

Nice.

So almost a year ago.

Yeah.

Can, can you, can you say how much it's worth?

I, I Honestly, you couldn't buy it from me.

Yeah.

I don't know what it's worth.

Yeah.

I, I don't know what it's worth.

It's hard to put a price on it, 'cause it's- Yeah.

Yeah, I got it.

They're expensive guitars.

Yeah.

But I mean, they're, they're probably, like, uh- Well, like, a, just a reg- a regular 1942 in really good condition is probably, like, maybe 25, 30 grand.

You know?

But then one with a provenance, one with a story, I don't know.

Yeah.

But this one, by the way, it's magic.

You hold it, you play it, it sounds in- it sounds incredible.

It sounds like I, I, I t- I, I took it out of the case the other day, before I left for this tour run.

We're on a summer tour right now.

Good Charlotte, Avenged Sevenfold.

Before I left, I was, I took it out after not touching it for at least a month, and it was perfectly in tune and sounded incredible.

And I was blown away.

Like- That's awesome so yeah.

So that's cool.

And then, we have, we've got, I mean, we collect antiques.

Yeah, we have a lot of cool antiques.

Lot, a lot, a lot of really cool, I mean- I feel antiques are pretty big category.

It is.

There's all good- Yeah.

I mean, we've got everything from, like, Zi beads.

You ever heard of Zi beads?

Mm-mm.

They're like Tibetan prayer beads.

Okay.

So they're super rare.

Um- Super rare.

A bunch of Native American, artifacts that- Beautiful, beautiful.

I mean, Meiji, carved sculptures from the Japan- Right.

Early, yeah early 1800s.

Love the, I mean, it's interesting 'cause with antiques, it's, it's, you, you, you, you know, someone, like, the where the, all these things come from, they're, they're priceless.

Yeah.

And I can't- Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah I can't believe you're here.

And I think we, we love it because we, we care, we shine 'em up and put 'em on a shelf, lit, like, and, and, like, wouldn't sell 'em, you know?

Wouldn't sell 'em.

I like things that you can display, right?

That you have, you have this dichotomy.

You can Cards, which are amazing and valuable and, but they're very hard to display, as opposed to, like, if you have antiques with a guitar or something that y- the easier to, to be part of your life.

Yeah, they're kinda religious for us, the antiques, because- Yeah there's, like, so much, like, we rev, we revere them.

And so is there, is there, like, a, a room that, like, they're all in, in both of your houses?

Like, and what, like- Yeah.

Yeah, re- a lot of rooms a couple rooms.

Actually, yeah.

Well, and then when you ask your wife if you can have a, if you can put a, a, a library shelf in the living room, and she's like, "Uh, honey, you're starting to take over the whole house."

I get it.

I- Like- I have two rooms that I'm allowed to use.

Those two rooms, as long as everything- Yeah else stays in there, we're good.

If it goes out of those rooms, there's a problem.

So I get it.

Yeah.

classic cars too.

Classic cars.

Yeah.

So cars have gotta be a, a complicated thing to collect, just from cost, storage, space.

Well, there's maintenance, and, and then taking care of 'em can be, um- Yeah.

We have a, we have a, a car, probably our favorite one is a 1965 Chevy Impala Super Sport.

Project we just finished.

We just finished the project.

It belonged to our dad.

Project meaning Oh, it, it belonged to you guys.

Belonged to our dad, and he was fixing it up over time.

That's awesome.

And when he passed away, we took the car and we, and we- Every screw on the car we wanted everything to be, like, pristine.

So the entire car- I feel like that thing's a show winner, bro.

Yeah, I feel like if we were to put it in, like, a show, it, it- Do you normally take your cars to shows?

No.

No?

No.

We just enjoy 'em.

Yeah.

We have a '64 Impala.

We have a '67 C10.

We have, you know, we like classic muscle, but, American muscle cars, but- So, like, ballpark, like, how many cars do you guys own be- between you?

I would say- Not that many not that many.

Six.

Yeah.

'Cause it's, again, it's gotta be complicated for storage and- Yeah, yeah, yeah and all that stuff.

It's not so easy.

Yeah.

Do you guys, do you- It's, it's, it's growing, though.

It's like we're, we're, we, we, we, we're a- we, we probably add one or two, like, over, over 18 months, like, we take our time.

We've, we've, we've gotten rid of a couple that didn't have as much emotional meaning.

Yeah, yeah.

'Cause then we're starting to go, like, okay, every one we keep has to have emotional, real emotional meaning.

So that, that's, with cars, you get space is a real thing, and then- Yeah storage, and- Yeah, yeah so.

But trading cards is, for me, is more entertaining 'cause it's faster moving.

Yep.

And you can do it a lot.

Yep.

You know?

One, you can buy one car, and you have to take care of it and drive it, and it's amazing.

That's right.

But I don't wanna have a whole garage of cars.

Yeah.

I, I would be overwhelmed.

Yeah.

I, the thing I like about trading cards more than anything is that I can, I'm always buying and selling cars.

Yeah.

Cards.

It's, and it's easy.

I have whatever, all my eBay apps.

Like, any time I wanna dive back in, I can just go see all my saved searches and what's going on and, like, just, like, you know, it's just an easy thing to always be a part of, but drop out if, you know, you So it, it's, it's one, it also makes it extremely addictive that way as well, which is the other side of it, but- Yeah.

It is.

It's fun.

Wait, so do, do you guys share all your collectibles?

Yeah.

Do you guys have certain things that are, are each, but for the most part, it's all together?

I'd say, like, we both have, like, a little PC- Yeah that's ours, you know?

Oh, it's fun.

And then I probably, like, my personal collection is probably more with my son, and it's, um- How old's your son?

He's 16.

That's good.

And he's been collecting since he was seven.

And there's cards that, again, like, have emotional Like, we have a, a sports collection of just players we love, like- Yeah.

So there, we have a one of one, Mookie Betts rookie auto.

Nice.

There's not a lot of those out there.

Like, try to find one.

Which one?

Bowman, Bow McRon?

Topps.

Nice.

Topps Heritage.

Okay, nice.

Um- Nice and, it's, it's, it's his favorite player, and, and he loves the Dodgers.

And we, you know, so there's cards like that that we just love.

Yeah.

And then there's cards that are just really valuable.

Not that that one's not valuable.

That's valuable.

Yeah.

But, like- For sure that collection's more just something we found over time that we've, that we couldn't sell.

It's like- Yeah you know?

No, I get it.

Yeah, my son's 11, and he collects Pokemon cards.

I don't collect Pokemon cards.

I, I, I've ha- My son collects Pokemon too I've had to learn, you know?

Yeah.

I'm trying to get him into sports cards, but Ghost Ride is sort of, like, the, the meeting point, 'cause he, you know, it's, it's a toy.

He opens it up.

And so, I've never hit a one of one Ghost Ride myself, and he hit a LaMelo Ball- Oh, wow Fire Crown one of one.

Wow.

He has no idea who LaMelo Ball is, right?

But it's his all-time, like, favorite possession, and it's never going anywhere, and it's never leaving his, his ho- like- Well, that's been the great, like And, and my, my sons and my daughter are a lot younger, so I, I have little, little kids.

I got a three-month-old baby.

Oh, wow.

Congrats.

And a two-year-old and a six-year-old.

So, um- Yeah, you're right in it.

That's like- Yeah.

Yeah.

So, what I think the greatest thing about collecting, period, and, has been how many hours have we spent together with you and Sparrow and me.

Like, countless hours.

We're- Going to card shows, or- And we're all best friends we're on eBay.

We're, we're all- We're texting.

We're, we're texting each other- all on eBay links.

I'll send something to Sparrow.

He'll send me last, last sold.

Uh-huh.

He'll send We are all sending it around, and, like- Every day we're talking, all day sending links, doing that, like, all day.

So that's the fun part.

But then also, like, with Pokemon, he collects Pokemon.

I had to learn about Pokemon.

Mm-hmm.

It doesn't have as much emotional nostalgia for me.

Yeah, for, for me also.

'Cause we're, we're that age.

Like, we were the exact age where we're all, like, whatever it is, you know, the generation right before Pokemon, right?

Yeah.

Where Pokemon came out in '99.

At that point, I was basically past cards.

Like, I was in college at that point.

Yeah.

You know, it was, like, sports cards in the '80s were, you know, probably- Yeah the same for you guys.

Yeah.

So, but it's, it's great.

I mean, th- that's the thing about collecting is also- Everyone can do it.

Why don't we wrap this up?

Why don't you guys give me, like, what's, like, just either a great piece that you wanna talk about that's, like, rare, that nobody knows about, or, like, a great story.

And I'll give you mine first and it'll be quick because it's very similar to your Taiwan work.

And some people know about this.

Actually, in the back of the white paper, there's a long version of this story, but I have this Ohtani that I bought from a kid in Hawaii and he wouldn't send it.

And it's a huge Ohtani, right?

It's a, it's, it's a Bowman Chrome Refractor, number to five auto.

It's a huge card.

Huge card.

This is back in, like, '21, '22.

And he wouldn't send it, but I couldn't go to Hawaii.

So there's a guy he introduced me to.

I sent him with a bag of cash.

I paid for his trip to Hawaii.

He went and got the card and brought it back and, and brokered this whole trade for me.

I, I literally sent him with a bag of cash to Hawaii, a guy that I just met.

And he came back and I, and I still have that card.

And, and that card is And it's, it's, it's priceless.

I mean, I've been offered multiple seven figures that I, I have turned down for that.

And, and it was, like, the It was only because this kid was willing to go to Hawaii for me and make it happen and come back.

That's the, that's the hobby, though.

Like, I had a guy in the Bay Area that had a, a winner, a three-on-three cup winner, Zoro winner card from the One Piece three-on-three cup that was It, it's a very important winner card, in my opinion, 'cause it was the only three-on-three tournament they're ever gonna do.

And, and a guy up in the Bay that I barely knew, I met him at a card show.

He's a great guy.

And we- Friends now we're friends now.

But, like, we met at a card show.

It, And the opportunity was there.

It was very sh- it was like, "Buy it now for this price," or, you know.

And you can't find these.

Like, and now you can't buy them for less than, like, 80 grand or 90 grand.

So I sent him, I, I PayPaled him 10 grand.

At the time, that was the price on the card.

And he went and- And it was a lot at the time.

At the time, for that card, it was a lot.

But the, yeah, the, the tournament cards hadn't popped off yet.

They hadn't popped off yet.

And, I PayPaled him 10 grand and he went and met the guy, like, 20 He drove a half hour away from his house and he picked up the card.

You did the same thing on the Kaido.

Yeah.

And it wa- co- compared to what it is now, but, but back- but then, nobody was looking at tournament cards.

I'm not telling people out there to just send money to people.

For sure.

Um- For sure.

especially if you can't risk losing that money.

Yeah, yeah.

But at the But there are good people- There are definitely good people out there, yeah who you can trust.

And they're doing it 'cause they love the hobby, too.

Yeah.

He was just as excited to pick that card up as I was to get it.

It was the exact same way.

The kid that went to, to Hawaii, I offered to, like, pay to s- let him stay longer.

He's like, "No."

He's like, "I just wanna go do this."

He's like, "I wanna hold the card.

I wanna..." You know, he wanted to be part of the story and, like, and he is.

And, like- It's a fun card I'm, I'm forever indebted to that kid for, for doing that.

Yeah.

So, it, it's a fun sport to be in.

It's the best, man.

And it's, it's def- we definitely just met a ton of friends and had a really good time collecting.

And our wives still don't know why we do it.

Trust me, I'm right there with you on that one, so.

Yeah.

But, but they also love it because- Yeah, yeah 'cause they, they're like, "Aw, it's cute.

You look like a big kid."

And when they hear us scream in the kitchen- Uh-huh 'cause we hit a card.

Oh my God, when I got a 10 on my Sanji that I got.

Yeah.

I By the way, similar story.

I'm friends with the guy now that I bought it from.

And so it's a Sanji tournament winner from 2005.

There's maybe eight copies in the world.

The only copy, the, for sale was a lot of money.

But n- well, now it's not a lot of money, but at the time, it was an obscure card.

No one would've even known if I told you about it.

Like, people still don't know what it is.

The only one that's listed right now is listed for a million dollars.

And I know the guy that's selling it.

The other, the collector that's selling it is like, "That's my price.

There's only one for sale."

That's right.

"I don't wanna get rid of it, but it would change my life if I did."

That's it.

"So I'm not."

You know?

And so he's serious, right?

Yeah, yeah.

And so 'Cause it's kind of a priceless card.

Got the card and just had faith and just PayPaled, PayPaled the money and got the card.

And when it raw And re- you were on the phone with me when I got the- Yeah, when we got the grade back when I got the grade back, I, I screamed.

I literally screamed.

My, my wife ran in.

She's like, "What's wrong?"

Uh-huh.

I'm like, "I just 10, I just got a 10.

I just got a 10."

And and, and then, I met the seller at a card show and, and he, he's a cool dude.

He actually works for, like, A24 Films and, like, he's like, you know, smart, like, cool guy.

We And now, like, we're friends now.

We, like, you know- Yeah to trade back and forth, talk about collecting, all this stuff.

But, that, that, that, like, I made more friends along the way than the couple bad apples every now and then that, you know, I met.

The, the bad apples get weeded out very quickly- That's right in the hobby, you know?

And, and the good people are around for a reason.

Yeah.

And, and like, you know, there, there's way more stories like this than, than there are the, the bad apples.

Yeah, I agree.

The bad apples wanna stay They, they wanna stay anonymous.

They don't wanna come up- That's right and stuff.

And when I 10'd the card, the dude was like, "I'm so happy.

I knew that was a 10."

And, and it, it, it must have 10x'd the value of it- Oh, yeah when And he was happy for me.

Oh, 100%.

You know?

So it was a great, it was a, it's a great one, so.

All right.

I think they're saying that, that you guys- Time to go are needed somewhere else.

Yeah.

All right.

But this was a blast.

I'm glad I got to step in for Jesse and Mike.

Thanks for doing it, bro.

Happy to do it whenever you want.

Thanks.

Yeah, for sure, man.

Bro, thank you.

This is Life is Black.

Thanks.

Can't wait to hang again, bro.

Yeah.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Thanks, bro.

For sure.

And we're back.

That was it.

That was the interview.

I hope it was really good.

For, here's the thing.

To be honest, we, we haven't listened, but from what we were told, is it was good.

I'd be very curious to hear what you guys think.

Agreed.

That's your show.

We're back on Thursday.

Thursday as normal.

I always forget to Yeah, okay.

We'll get to the product review.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

F. We'll do it Thursday.

Okay.

I mean, there's not, like- You can cut all this.

Yeah, we'll do it Thursday.

It comes out Friday, I think.

Oh.

Well, there- No, I think it's Wednes- I think it's Wednesday is it Wednesday, Sean?

I think it's the 12th.

Yeah.

That's okay.

We can do, like, a preview of it, though.

You know, it's Yeah, it's a super long episode.

If it doesn't matter time-wise, let's do it Thursday.

Yeah, do it Thursday.

Okay.

We'll do it Thursday.

Let's do it Thursday.

All right.

Goodbye.

You can leave all that in.

I don't care.

Why don't you guys just do it Thursday?

Hey, we'll do it Thursday.

Goodbye.

All right.

We'll see you Thursday